Ratatouille is a summer stew and one of our favorite dishes to make in September. There are many variations on this dish, but as with most of our cooking, we go for the simple solution. Here’s how Casey makes ratatouille:
Start with the ingredients: chopped (into big chunks) tomatoes, onions, eggplant, peppers, and summer squash or zucchini; and whole garlic cloves. Roast everything in batches in the oven until cooked (if you make a small batch, you can fit it all together, but Casey usually does this in large volumes so he usually does a sheet full of tomatoes, then peppers, etc.).
Carefully transfer roasted veggies to a large, thick-bottomed pot (we use a big enamel cast iron dutch oven) and simmer for up to a couple hours. The flavor blends with time, so we usually make this dish a day or two ahead of time and then store in the fridge and reheat for the meal.
Serve in wide bowls with big chunks of crusty bread for dipping. Various cheeses can make a nice addition or garnish/topping. Add a green salad for a complete summer meal!
If you have time to make it now, ratatouille also freezes well and is so amazing to eat mid-winter when all those flavors have long disappeared from the fields.
