I salted, let sit for 30 minutes and rinsed these cubed squash and eggplant. Here they dry on a towel.
Ratatouille is a wonderful way to use summer vegetables. This recipe is different than my usual, long-cooked style. It calls for cutting summer squash and eggplant then salting it, letting it sit for 20-30 minutes, then rinsing and drying it. I’d never done that before and I think it must allow the dish to cook a little faster.
The onion and peppers cook first.
The onions and peppers saute in olive oil. It called for just sweet peppers but I added a poblano not only for the deep green color but also I wanted a bit of heat. They cooked for about 7 minutes. Then I added saffron with the prepared eggplant, garlic and squash.
Chopped garlic, julienned basil leaves
Everything simmers together.
The recipe said to cook it a few minutes but I don’t like undercooked eggplant so I cooked it about 10-12. It suggests deglazing the pan with Pernod and Voigner neither of which I had on hand, nor did I have any white wine so I splashed in some Mirin once and a couple splashes of water. Everything softened nicely.
It's a wonderful sidedish, hot or room temp.
At the last minute I added some seeded tomatoes and basil. And more salt and pepper. Oh it’s good.
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