ratatouille

Not only do we constantly have food on the brain, we also love to watch any and all TV shows about food, including The Next Food Network Star. The winner this year, Melissa D'Arabian, made ratatouille for her last elimination challenge and mentioned a helpful mnemonic device she uses to ensure all the vegetables are cooked perfectly: EZPOT. That stands for eggplant, zucchini, peppers, onions and tomatoes- the order in which you need to add each ingredient into the pot. Well it just so happened that inside the box this week were all the ingredients you need to make ratatouille! Uh, assuming you still have some onions left over from last week that is.


Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 sweet peppers, seeded and cut into chunks
1 onion, sliced
5 tomatoes, seeded and cut into chunks
1 eggplant, peeled and cut into chunks
2 summer squash, sliced
3 pattypan squash, cut into chunks
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
salt, pepper & 2 tsp herbs du provence

Follow the EZPOT- or in this case ESPOGT. Doesn't have quite the same ring. Heat the oil in a large pot and add the eggplant. Allow to cook just until it begins to soften, then add the squash. When the squash has softened, throw in the peppers. After the peppers start to soften, next up are the onions and garlic. Finally, add in the tomatoes when the onions are translucent. Season generously with salt, pepper and herbs du provence. Cover the pot and cook over medium heat for one hour. We served with some polenta, to which we added 1/4 lb Montasio cheese.