More on ratatouille

The ratatouille was a success. I had been thinking of myself as a person who liked ratatouille in its place but could never love it. I've changed my mind. Acceptable ratatouile may be merely acceptable, but -- as I'm sure everyone in the world but me already knew -- ratatouille made right, from fresh ripe ingredients, is splendid. Our dinner guest last night did not recognize it as ratatouille.

"Oh!" he said. "I love this. Eggplant and tomato and..."

"Yes, I'm glad I decided to make ratatouille," I said.

"Ratatouille!" he said. He looked at it. "Huh. I guess it is, huh?"

I think this tells you something about the nature of what goes around calling itself ratatouille these days. The Julia Child recipe is of the sort in which you first saute your eggplant slices just until they're browned and remove them to a plate on the counter. Then you saute the squash the same way and remove it, too. Then you switch gears to slow and cook the onions and peppers until they fall down, and then place your sliced tomatoes over top, cover, and cook some more. Then you take the cover off and cook away some excess juice. Finally, you remove everything and start over by layering a third of the tomato mixture on the bottom, followed by half the eggplant and squash, then another third of the tomatoes, the remaining eggplant and squash, and then the rest of the tomatoes. You cook it slowly that way without stirring until it's done.

You may baste it with the juices that you're boiling away, but stirring is entirely not permitted. Then you must let it cool down completely before you eat it cold or at room temperature, or heat it up again if you want it hot. The layering and no stirring makes the vegetables keep their integrity even as the long cooking and later cooling pulls them together into a sort of vegetable jam. Oh, it was so good, and of course (of course!) the goodness of the ingredients was unmistakable.

The tomatoes this year are fantastic. Today at the farmer's market we got even more: green zebras and Paul Robesons. We ate more of the cherry tomatoes from our farm share, which are unbelievably sweet, over lentils and Greek yogurt, with salt, pepper, and crispy onions on top. Tomatoes en masse to be eaten tonight as well. Why screw around?

Posted by redfox at August 08, 2004 05:37 PM (dinner reports) | Comments (2)

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