le quatorze juillet

It is no secret that Paris is one of my favorite cities---the food, the architecture, the museums, the gardens, the people, the wine, beauty around every corner.

So in honor of France's Fête Nationale today, I thought I would share one of my favorite summer recipes: ratatouille.

Ratatouille is perfect for this time of year as many of its ingredients are harvested midsummer, thus making them very abundant and inexpensive (again garnering The Happy Recessionist's seal of approval!). Here's what you need:

tomatoes
eggplant
zucchini
red bell peppers
green Italian peppers
onion
garlic
tomato paste
herbes de Provence (basil, thyme, parsley)
olive oil
red chili paste*

As far as the exact quantities of each, it can vary, depending on what one has on hand. For the batch I prepared this weekend, I used 5 tomatoes, 1 large eggplant, 2 medium zucchini, 1 very large red pepper, 3 Italian pepper, 1 large onion, 6 cloves garlic, about 2 T tomato paste, a generous handful of chopped fresh basil, 2 T olive oil, and 1 t of red chili paste (*which is completely optional but we like the extra zing!).

I heat the olive oil in a large, extra deep saute pan, and when at a medium temperature add the roughly chopped vegetables, herbs, tomato and chili pastes. The eggplant may absorb the olive oil, in which case I add a little water (rather than more oil, to keep calories low) and then cover. After 5 minutes or so, I turn the temperature all the way down because the vegetables should cook slowly, from 45 minutes to an hour, so that they are silky soft and have a thick, stew-like consistency.

Ratatouille is fabulous not only because it is so tasty but also because of its versatility (and can be kept in the refrigerator for days!). It can be eaten as a warm or cold soup for one. We also have it as a side dish, again either warm or cold. It can be tossed with pasta or couscous or rice and served as either a main or side dish. I especially like it as a baguette filler---I warm the ratatouille and spoon on one side of the bread; on the other half, I spread goat cheese. Magnifique!