Ratatouille

For some reason yesterday, I was in the mood to try something I’d never made before. I love those days.

Looking at the growing heap of zucchini, eggplant and Brandywine tomatoes from our garden, I wanted to do something with them. Then it hit me: Why not make Ratatouille? So I opened up my trusted Joy of Cooking cookbook to find out if I had everything else to make it, and sure enough, I did. Not only that, but there was a grilled recipe too. Me being me, I used the basic ingredient list and made it my own. All I can say is, damn, I’m that good.

Of course, since I was making ratatouille for dinner, I figured it would be fun to also watch Pixar’s Ratatouille as well with our oldest boy. I don’t know if he got the message about trying new foods and not eating garbage, but liked the movie nonetheless. He also, after managing to finally take a bit of the ratatouille, liked it as well. Funny that.

Cory’s Grilled Ratatouille

Preheat gas grill to medium to medium-high, or charcoal to medium hot coals.

Combine:

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar

½ teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

Prepare:

1 head garlic

1 sweet onion, peeled and quartered

1 medium eggplant, sliced about ½ inch

1 medium to large zucchini, sliced about ½ inch

1 large or two small red bell peppers

1 Brandywine or 4 Roma tomatoes

When grill is ready, coat the vegetables in the olive oil balsamic vinegar mixture and place on the grill, leaving the garlic, bell pepper(s) and tomato(es) whole. For easier release, I always spray my surface with nonstick cooking spray. Grill vegetables until done, anywhere from five minutes for the zucchini to twenty minutes for the garlic. Let everything cool. Peel the tomato and remove seeds if necessary before roughly chopping. Remove the peel and seeds from the bell pepper and chop into bite sized pieces.

When garlic is cool enough to handle, combine in a large bowl:

1 head roasted garlic, squeezed and mashed with skins removed

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 fresh chopped basil (or about 1 Tablespoon dried)

salt and pepper to taste

Combine all of the vegetables into the finishing sauce and let sit for a few minutes to an hour before serving. Serve at room temperature.