Meatless Monday: middle eastern ratatouille?
/Looking around my fridge this afternoon, I found one lovely eggplant, 2 globe artichokes and some zucchini, all quite fresh and eager to be consumed. I thought about how much I love ratatouille when I'm eating out but almost never when I made it myself; I'm not sure why this is but I wonder if it has something to do with amount of olive oil used. I'm certainly not meek when it comes to glugs of EVOO, but as I'm still gun-shy in using the actual amount of salt all self-respecting Italians do (horrific if you're not expecting to see how much is dumped in! I about had a cardiac the first time I watched my sister cook after she'd lived in Florence for a while), I might also be relatively restrained when it comes to olive oil pouring. Hmm... Anyway, I decided against the traditional ratatouille's associated seasonings and am instead going in a middle eastern direction. The eggplant is roasting in its skin right now in the oven, I steamed the artichokes until al dente and have them resting in an acidulated bath and think I'll ultimately throw all that back together on a jelly roll pan with the squash, some garlic and a hefty dose of spices TBD but which definitely lead you down the Arabian v French path. Stay tuned.