We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for a breaking news alert.
Ba-beep, ba-beep, beep, beeeeeeeeeeep.
The official end of summer is September 23rd which by my calculations, bearing in mind I work with numbers for a living, is still a full two weeks away. You know what that means right?
Of course your do because you’re as intellectually stimulating as me, and you recognize the downfall of ending a season too early and starting another too soon.
Yes, the loose translation is ease up on the pumpkin, peeps. Close the lid and back away from the can. You can do it. I have total faith in you. Then again, I have seen crack addicts with more self control. I’ll be honest, if you’re not willing to me meet halfway, I might have to spike your Pumpkin Spice Latte.
I don’t judge. Alright that’s not true. When it comes to all things pumpkin, I’m kind of a hater. I’ll be the very first to admit it, and I’ll even take it a step further and tell you I don’t have a great reason why. Truth be told, I find the flavoring to be…okay, I guess, although certainly nothing to write home about, not that I’ve been doing much of that anyway, unless of course you count the blog.
My anti-pumpkin sentiment and haterish ways is really a result of pumpkin mania. You know what I’m talking about. It’s the craze which takes the blog world by storm come Autumn, like a plague of locusts they descend and destroy anything and everything in its path, including little ol’ me. Remember I am pocket sized.
The simple truth is I like the underdog, and we all can agree pumpkin is not the underdog.
My very regular readers know, I do an anti-pumpkin post every year. As such, we all knew this one was coming. I just didn’t realize it’d still be in the heart of summer. Alright fine, the tail end, which is why today, I’m bringing Ratatouille to the party.
I am doing my part and making the most of my late summer produce.
- Because I love veggies, enough to start a sentence with a preposition even.
- I’m still getting all the veggies in my food share, and
- Ratatouille rocks.
The best way to describe Ratatouille is a savory vegetable stew utilizing mid to late summer produce and fresh herbs, all of which is in abundance right now in Cleveland. It’s a bowl of comfort, wrapped in intense flavor. I prefer to toss mine with some fresh pappardelle pasta. It’s like a dream come true, only served up family style.
Now, you can use whatever vegetables you’ve got on hand. I like to include lots of onions and garlic because they rock, also, eggplant is almost always involved. The rest is whatever I’ve got going on; typically loads of bell peppers, summer squash, and zucchini, finished with freshly diced tomatoes, juice and all. In fact the juicier, the better. You already knew that though, you intellectual prodigy.
I follow two simple methods when I make Ratatouille.
- I cook it low and slow.
- I also break the veggies down pieces and parts at a time before adding another round.
There might be some fancy culinary name for what I’m doing; I say I’m building flavor.
While the veggies are somewhat interchangeable, there is one hard and fast rule to follow when it comes to Ratatouille. Those beautiful globes of goodness must be in their prime, meaning Make. This. Now.
Sorry if I came across as a wee bit demanding. This is not a dish you make in the wintertime though. Simple stated, you need fresh, seasonal produce, so pretty please with a locally sourced, GMO free, cherry on top, Make. This. Now.
- 2 1/2 cups Squash and Zucchini, roasted
- Salt and Pepper, to taste
- 1/3 cup Olive Oil
- 1/3 cup Onion, diced
- 1 medium Eggplant, diced
- 4 cloves Garlic, diced
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 2 cups Bell Pepper, diced
- 2 large Tomatoes, diced
- 2 tsp. dried Thyme
- 3 Tbsp. fresh Basil, cut into ribbons
- Pappardelle Pasta, cooked according to package directions.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lay squash on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Drizzle squash with olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Let cook for 20 minutes, flipping once halfway through.
- While squash are roasting, add 1/3 cup of olive oil to a large pot over medium high heat. Once the oil is warm, add your onions, a crank of salt and pepper and cook until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Reduce heat to medium and add in eggplant, garlic, bay leaf, another crank of salt and pepper and let cook another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Reduce heat to low and add in bell peppers, roasted squash, tomatoes, thyme and basil, yet another crank of salt and pepper and cook for another 30 minutes to an hour, stirring occasionally. Taste it and add additional seasonings if desired.
- The longer you cook it, the thicker it will become. Once ratatouille has reached desired thickness, remove from eat and serve over a bed of pasta.
- To freeze, add cooked Ratatouille, without pasta, to a freezer safe container. When ready to use, defrost, and reheat in a saucepan with a little bit of olive oil and salt and pepper.
Have you ever made Ratatouille? How do you like to prepare it? Have you already forsaken summer produce for all things pumpkin? Say it ain’t so, Joe.
I’m with you on the pumpkin hating! And I wish everyone would stop with the flannels and scarves. It’s 80 degrees outside, shut up everyone!
I know right. It’s hot as hell here right now, and I like it that way. 🙂
Meghan recently posted…Ratatouille Recipe
I’ve never made this, but totally doing it! I’ll use GF pasta, my kids don’t turn anything down involving pasta 🙂 The 95 degree weather today has me backing off my pumpkin love just a little. I can’t wait for actual fall!
Michele @ paleorunningmomma recently posted…Sentence per Picture – Wedding in Central Park
Slow down Tiger. 😉
Meghan recently posted…Ratatouille Recipe
Step away from the can? What is this can you speak of? I don’t have cans of pumpkins lying around.
I HAVE PUMPKINS.
And if you think I’m going to ignore them and let them rot and waste food, well, you’re wrong. However, they can hang out in the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve with the acorn squash from the farm share while I tackle the eggplant, peppers and tomatoes. In something like this stew.
It looks awesome. I bet I could slip a parmesan rind in there without anyone knowing . . .
Kirsten recently posted…Swiss Chard Hash
See I know you’re nowhere ready to mess with the pumpkins. We’ve got too much perishable stuff to deal with, not that pumpkins aren’t perishable but at least they have loads more time.
A parmesan rind would work beautifully in here.
Meghan recently posted…Ratatouille Recipe
When I was little, my two sisters (they’re 10 years older than me) made pumpkin pies and accidentally dropped them onto our kitchen floor. I walked into the kitchen seeing all this brown mess and Tracey tells me that it’s diarrhea, that she got sick and it came out everywhere. I started crying, and I’ve hated pumpkin anything ever since. I forgave my sister eventually though.
Suzy recently posted…A Hole In the Rubber
That would traumatize me. Also, regardless of the reason, I’m glad to have another pumpkin hater.
Meghan recently posted…Ratatouille Recipe
Okay, I’ll make it, but only because you said pretty please with a locally sourced, organic, non GMO cherry on top.
And, because it looks not just delicious, but scrumptious too!
We can still be friends even if you are a pumpkin hater. 😉
Heather@hungryforbalance recently posted…Caramelized Onion, Wilted Greens, and Honeyed Goat Cheese Socca Pizza
Why thank you. I appreciate your tolerance to my anti-pumpkin ways, especially since I know I’m in the minority here.
Meghan recently posted…Ratatouille Recipe
Ooh, I love ratatouille. If for no other reason than it was one of the first meals I made myself when I lived in Paris and it was just so goshdarn French. Might I suggest adding a crusty baguette on the side?
My only pumpkin weakness is pumpkin beer. I’ve only had one so far this year, and was shamed for it, so I’m trying to hold out a little longer. Then again I drink red wine in the summer so what do I know?
Not only might you suggest a crusty baguette, but you should suggest a crusty baguette! That would pair perfectly here alongside a glass of white (or even red) wine.
I make exceptions for booze. 🙂
Meghan recently posted…Ratatouille Recipe
dudette, your ratatouille vibes are so damn strong that they actually hit me in the face the other morning! and woke me up, forced me to cook all the veggies in my fridge. the result: a weird ass ratatouille. the back story – i gifted my darling hubby with his favorite… not ‘that’ but the other favorite – exotic eggplants from the Mediterranean market. OH MY. yes i did. so i cooked them up with all the veggies we had and presto! weird looking veggie love. it was so good. so yeah, i’m all over this.
but i must say, i love me some pumpkin smoothie 😀
danielle recently posted…Goals: September
Gasp, not the pumpkin smoothie. I’m afraid this might be it for us. 😉 Just kidding, I’m glad you came up with a strange but good concoction. I would expect nothing less from you.
Meghan recently posted…Ratatouille Recipe
oh wait, i forgot about the curried pumpkin bisque!!!! that totally trumps the smoothie. i’ve made this with carrots and honestly, i have carrots in my inventory at all times. it’s the same color so i go with it. i’m not faithful to the orange sphere, just going for color. 😀 lol
danielle recently posted…Goals: September
Don’t quote me on this but Pumpkin Curry sounds pretty good. I’ll have to wait until at least October of course. 🙂
Meghan recently posted…Ratatouille Recipe
My only experience with ratatouille is with the Pixar movie that goes by the same name — and I did love that one very much 😛 In all seriousness, though, it’s not a dish I’ve ever had, but it’s one that I’d really like to try… even if it means I have to admit that it’s still summer. I feel like our seasons are all messed up here, though. It was cold and rainy all weekend, and all I wanted to do was hang in the kitchen and bake.
Amanda @ .running with spoons. recently posted…. currently – september 2015 .
We’ve got a few more days of high, high temperatures with a dose of humidity so Fall is the furthest thing from my mind. Also picking up vast quantities of tomatoes, carrots, corn and bell peppers in the food share means I’m still on the summer recipes, although ratatouille might be considered a transitional one considering it’s eaten warm, like a stew.
I never saw that movie, although I always wanted to.
Meghan recently posted…Ratatouille Recipe
I love ratatouille! I almost always make it every year around this time. Except this year I made an eggplant and tomato stew that is lasting me for dayyyys! By the time I finish it, it might actually be pumpkin season haha. But anwyay, I’m with you on holding off on fall foods until summer really is over. I mean, I feel like eggplant JUST started showing up at the farmers market – I’m not ready to move on from it yet.
Chelsea @ Chelsea’s Healthy Kitchen recently posted…Late Summer Vegetable Recipes I’m Loving
You are my people. That is all.
Meghan recently posted…Ratatouille Recipe
Hi Meghan, thanks for the recipe, looks very delicious.
Thanks.
Meghan recently posted…Ratatouille Recipe
You need to move to the UK. Pumpkin is something you carve at Halloween… That’s it! Starbucks serve pumpkin spice lattes but I have never seen or heard anyone order one, they see pumpkin as savoury and can’t come to grips with why anyone would want a savoury coffee. If I wanted to buy pumpkin, I had to go to the American section of my supermarket where you would find a couple of tins… Yup pretty low key.
Ratatouille is amazing and one of my favourites! I love heating up a batch, breaking a couple of eggs into it and popping a lid on for a few mins to let the eggs cook… So good! Also eggplant is a must…
Jen @ Chase the Red Grape recently posted…An Update…
Genius idea about adding eggs. I love it!!!
Meghan recently posted…Ratatouille Recipe
Someone else who is just not into pumpkin- thank the LAWD! Despite trying to get into that mush a few times, it’s just not my thing. However I do love fresh pumpkin grilled in the oven- very much like butternut squash. What I do love, however, is ratatouille. I go down the quick route: Sauté chunks of mushroom, zucchini, aubergine and peppers and then top with fresh herbs and marinara sauce. I think I will be giving your version a shot, even though it will probably mean exercising plenty of patience. I can only imagine how wonderful it makes the kitchen smell!
Khushboo recently posted…Eating out in London
It makes the kitchen smell amazing and I’m a big fan of the slow cooking method here and with all soups really. It lets the flavors come out and I get to move at a non-hurried pace. That part really helps.
Meghan recently posted…Ratatouille Recipe
Yum, I guess I found my lunch recipe for next week 🙂 I too abhor the early pumpkin craze, but I’ve fallen into the trap myself with a pumpkin spiced iced coffee already. Think about THAT oxymoron. If you live in New England and are adding pumpkin flavoring to your ICED coffee…. it’s not pumpkin season my friend. It’s just not. OH, and we hit record heat in the high 90’s this week.
Frugal Foodie Frank recently posted…What I Ate Wednesday- September 9th!
It’s been crazy hot and humid here too which makes the pumpkin craze seem even stranger.
I forgive your iced pumpkin coffee simply because it was iced. Oxymoron indeed. 🙂
Meghan recently posted…Random Ramblings and Senseless Mutterings Yet Again