Ratatouille

It's not just a movie, no seriously, its a food.  It's a really good food.  A really good, really worth the prep time, food.  It's a food that you make when you have the in laws coming over and you want to dazzle them with your culinary prowess so maybe they won't judge how badly you need to dust, or the fact that your 2 year old has a stain on her shirt, or wonder why you don't call as much as you should and your Christmas card came 3 days AFTER Christmas, ok I may have personalized that a little bit.  Anyway, its yummy, smells amazing ( I attribute that to the copious amounts of red wine I dump in mine (read:me)) and is decidedly healthy.
I added my recipe for crusty Italian bread, just in case you're feeling froggy.



Ratatoullie


What you need:

• Olive oil
• 1 small onion- chopped
• 4 garlic gloves - minced
• 2 bell peppers, any color- chopped
• 2 zucchini- chopped
• 2 summer (yellow) squash- chopped
• 1 large or 2 small eggplant- chopped
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes- drained
• 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1 cup red wine, any kind is fine, remember to sample, often
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme, or 2 teaspoons fresh
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary 
• Salt and pepper to taste

What you do:

Coat bottom of big pot with olive oil and heat over medium heat.  Add onions and saute for about 3 minutes, until onions are soft and translucent.  Add garlic and saute, only for a a minute or so, or the garlic will burn and get bitter, and that's just ew.  Add wine and let it cook down for a few minutes.  Add in peppers, zucchini and squash.  Let the veggies cook for a 5 minutes to soften, then add thyme and rosemary.  Add eggplant and tomatoes and salt and pepper.  Let every thing cook and jive in the pot for about 45 minutes to an hour, so flavors marry ( I have always wanted to say that).  You can keep in on low on the stove for a long time, like I did.  The longer it cooks, the more flavorful it becomes.


Printable version here!!

What you need:

• 1 packed dry active yeast, approx 2 1/4 teaspoons
• 1 1/4 cups warm water
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

What you do:

Mix dry yeast into a 1/4 cup warm water until it dissolves.  Let it sit for a bit until bubbles for, and yeast is totally dissolved.  Add remaining 1 cup warm water, flour, sugar and salt.  When dough starts to come together, add in olive oil and mix.  Pour dough out onto a well floured surface and knead for 5-8 minutes.  Dough should be tacky, but not sticky.  When dough is smooth and elastic, put it in a bowl with a little olive oil and swoosh it around to coat ball of cough.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 1-2 hours until its doubled in size.  

When dough has risen, punch it down and roll it into a long loaf.  Cut dough in half and either form into two bigger loaves, or 6 small sub rolls.  Coat a pizza peel, or wooden cutting board with corn meal and roll loaves lightly in the cornmeal.  With loves on the board, cover with plastic wrap and let rise again for 30-40 minutes. Before you put loaves in oven, put slice each one lengthwise down the center, only cutting into the dough about 1/4 inch.  

Heat oven to 425 degrees, and place loaves on a pizza stone or overturned cookie sheet, make sure you put the rack in the middle-lower half of the oven, too close to the top, and the crust outside will burn before the inside is fully cooked.  Cook for 10 minutes, or until the bottom of the bread sounds hollow when tapped on.  To make the inside chewier, and the crust,well, crustier...put a cake pan in the bottom of oven or on the bottom rack before you preheat it, and add water to it when you put the bread in. 

Printable version here!!