Friday, September 26, 2008

ratatouille - my way

You might've guessed from the title of this blog that ratatouille floats my boat! Rocks my world! Files my fingernails!

There are so many recipes out there for it, but I use this one from allrecipes.com and then add my own twist (my kitchen's just about big enough for one or two twists).

This is what I do differently:

  • I use my skillet and not the oven - even though my oven's teeny tiny it turns my kitchen into a furnace.
  • I leave off the mushrooms and green peppers, though it would be good with those I think. I just always make this when the mood strikes me, and even if I don't have all the veggies it calls for, I go ahead anyway.
  • If I don't have two fresh tomatoes, I use a can of chopped tomatoes with all the juices.
  • I add diced chicken at the beginning when I'm sauteing the onions and garlic, and later add a bit of lemon juice to tenderize it.
  • I also throw in some marjoram, thyme, and a few splashes of red wine.
  • I add the parmesan right at the end before giving it a final stir and serving it up.
  • I serve it over couscous that I've prepared with chicken broth and olive oil.
  • This last time I made the dish I also added some black olives that I had halved lengthwise.
I'm sure this is not authentic whatsoever, but my taste buds sure do dig it.

What's your favorite version of ratatouille? We all know what Anton Ego's was.

3 comments:

Rachael Hutchings said...

I LOVE ratatouille! I lived in France for while as a student and the mom of the family I lived with cooked amazing ratatouille--that was my favorite ratatouille! Isn't it such a fun word to say?

Ivy said...

Hi Abigail. I don't check my messages at FB very often and I just saw that you also have a cooking blog (by the way it looks great). I am adding you in my blogroll and google reader so that I won't miss any of your recipes. I love ratatouille. We have a similar Greek dish called Briam or Tourlou Tourlou.

Abigail (aka Mamatouille) said...

fuji mama - Do you remember your host mother's recipe?

ivy - Thanks for adding me to your blogroll and reader - yea! You should blog the recipe for briam - sounds yummy.