Jason’s Ratatouille
This recipe was taken from a couple French cookbooks and altered by me in the test kitchen. The results were absolutely fantastic, enough so that my friend Parker Gartliz tried it and loved it as well. It’s hard not to keep eating it. You wouldn’t think it is that good until you try it, and then it just blows you away. I can’t say enough about this recipe.
Ingredients
1 Package of Bacon
2 Red or Green Bell Peppers (roasted over the fire – see below)
1 Good sized eggplant (Chopped into cubes. Some people peel it... I don't.)
2 lbs of Zuchini/Squash. This equates to about 2 good sized green Zuchini and 2 good sized yellow squash.
1 lb of Onion (a large onion qualifies)
1 Can of Tomato Sauce
1 Can of diced crushed tomatoes (You can alternately use 2 lbs of fresh tomatoes but... they don't taste too good this time of year, and cutting them up is a bitch, so used my cans and it worked perfectly)
Olive Oil
Butter
1 Bay Leaf
2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 to 1.5 tablespoons of Garlic (You can use fresh garlic but... I used a garlic paste instead)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Sugar
Fresh Basil
Roast the bell peppers, by either holding them over an open flame with tongs, or broiling them till they are black in the oven. Peel off the burnt skin, cut them up, take the seeds out.
Cut the bacon into dices, and in a big 5-7 quart pot, cook the back until it’s done. Take the bacon and put into a bowl and munch on it as you cook, throwing the remaining pieces back into the recipe at the very end. Pour the bacon fat off into a bowl, leaving the bits in the pan.
Then pour a little bacon fat, a little olive oil, and a dab of butter to the pot. Cook the chopped and roasted bell peppers for a few minutes, until they are soft. When they are done… take peppers out and put into a colander over a bowl, so the fat drips off the peppers.
Then... more bacon fat, more olive oil, more butter, and quickly cook the onions for 3-5 minutes. Then remove them to the colander with the peppers.
Then… more fat, oil, butter, and cook the zuchini and squash for a few minutes, then remove to colander
You guessed it, more fat, oil, butter, and now I brown the eggplant, which soaks up most of the oil real quick, so I had to add quite a bit more, mostly olive oil. I was out of bacon fat by this time. When it's done it all goes into the colander.
Now... In the pot I pour in some more oil, heat very hot, then I add the garlic. This oil butter garlic smell is incredible. You can add as much garlic as you want depending on how much garlic flavor you like. Once that is mixed in for a few seconds, I pour in the can of tomato sauce and the can of dices/crushed tomatoes. Then I add the sprigs of fresh Thyme (fresh is the key here) and the bay leaf. Sprinkle with a little sugar to defeat the acid in the tomatoes. Salt and pepper to taste. Then... pour in the vegetables from the colander (free of the oil that has drained out), and any remaining bacon bits.
Cook for as long as you want, but at least 30 minutes. If you cook a long time, it gets mushy, but that's okay, it will get mushy anyway.
When you are finished, take 6 or more fresh leaves of basil, chop them up, and add them in. I think I might have added quite a bit more, because I LOVE fresh basil. The basil is the last thing you add. Then it's ready to go. And as amazing as it tastes... it's even BETTER the next day.
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