Food: ROES
Jul. 9th, 2013 08:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lyornFinally, summer has come, and with it sunburn, biting insects, crowded pools, and, finally, summer veggies!
Now, the thing with veggies is, if you want to serve them as the main dish, you need lots of them, because they consist mostly of taste, shiny and water. If you want to feed six to eight people, you need a big pot. Or oven dish. So, I present, The Ratatouille of Extraordinary Size. Which can, of course, be easily scaled down, but where's the fun in that?
Take your biggest oven dish. If it's less than, say 8 or 9 litres, you need to scale down the recipe and cook some rice to go with it.
All gram measurements below are approximates, veggies weighed before cleaning.
Take two largish purple aubergines (900g), wash, cut off the flower, slice into thumb-wide slices, spread on kitchen paper, salt.
Peel two Spanish onions (700g), chop roughly into bite-sized pieces, throw in oven dish. Wash and clean 2 yellow peppers and 2 red bell peppers (1000g total), 3 small zucchini (800g), 3 beef tomatoes (750g). Chop roughly, throw in oven dish. Peel 4 to 12 fresh, juicy garlic cloves (to taste), crush and throw in. Add two teaspoons of salt, one teaspoon of black pepper, one teaspoon of cumin, two teaspoons of sugar, and about half a teaspoon of chilli flakes (or more, to taste, but restrain yourself, do not drown the veggie taste in chilli), and 3 or 4 laurel leaves. If you do not have fresh herbs, also add a tablespoon of dried thyme, or Herbes de Provence. Pour an espresso cup (about 60 ml) of olive oil on the whole thing and mix.
Then dry the aubergines slices with kitchen paper, dice them, throw into dish, mix again.
If your oven dish has a lid, close it, if not, don't worry. Put in oven for about 45 minutes on 180°C. If you make half the amount, it will take about 10 minutes less.
Then put in two cans (425 ml each) of diced tomatoes and a bunch of thyme (if you have it and did not use dried herbs). Stir. Bake in open pot for another 20 minutes or so.
Serve with hot flat bread, baguette or ciabatta. Eat with a spoon from soup plates or bowls.
Feeds six to eight as a main dish (with bread and cheese, see below), a medium-sized garden party as a side dish. Can also be eaten cold, then use more spices, maybe a splash of vinegar and a bit of honey. (I'd recommend tarragon vinegar, and lavender honey or chestnut honey). If you want to serve it on flat plates, you might want to drain it, or sieve a fine layer of flour on it after adding the canned tomatoes, and stir again.
If you want a little more substance and have some space left in the oven: Baked Sheep's Cheese
Take about 500g of Greek sheep's cheese in thick slices. Grease a dish with olive oil, put the slices in, sprinkle olive oil on top. Then a little ground black pepper, a twig of rosemary, a few slices of garlic and a few slices of lemon. Put it in after you added the diced tomatoes to the vegetable pot, so it bakes for about 20 minutes. (If you have no space in your oven for another dish, wrap in tinfoil and find space on the side of the main dish, or simply put the tinfoiled cheese on top of the veggies.)
We didn't get around to gaming much, but it was not the fault of the food, which is low-effort both in cooking and in serving, but because some players had to put in overtime at work.
Now, the thing with veggies is, if you want to serve them as the main dish, you need lots of them, because they consist mostly of taste, shiny and water. If you want to feed six to eight people, you need a big pot. Or oven dish. So, I present, The Ratatouille of Extraordinary Size. Which can, of course, be easily scaled down, but where's the fun in that?
Take your biggest oven dish. If it's less than, say 8 or 9 litres, you need to scale down the recipe and cook some rice to go with it.
All gram measurements below are approximates, veggies weighed before cleaning.
Take two largish purple aubergines (900g), wash, cut off the flower, slice into thumb-wide slices, spread on kitchen paper, salt.
Peel two Spanish onions (700g), chop roughly into bite-sized pieces, throw in oven dish. Wash and clean 2 yellow peppers and 2 red bell peppers (1000g total), 3 small zucchini (800g), 3 beef tomatoes (750g). Chop roughly, throw in oven dish. Peel 4 to 12 fresh, juicy garlic cloves (to taste), crush and throw in. Add two teaspoons of salt, one teaspoon of black pepper, one teaspoon of cumin, two teaspoons of sugar, and about half a teaspoon of chilli flakes (or more, to taste, but restrain yourself, do not drown the veggie taste in chilli), and 3 or 4 laurel leaves. If you do not have fresh herbs, also add a tablespoon of dried thyme, or Herbes de Provence. Pour an espresso cup (about 60 ml) of olive oil on the whole thing and mix.
Then dry the aubergines slices with kitchen paper, dice them, throw into dish, mix again.
If your oven dish has a lid, close it, if not, don't worry. Put in oven for about 45 minutes on 180°C. If you make half the amount, it will take about 10 minutes less.
Then put in two cans (425 ml each) of diced tomatoes and a bunch of thyme (if you have it and did not use dried herbs). Stir. Bake in open pot for another 20 minutes or so.
Serve with hot flat bread, baguette or ciabatta. Eat with a spoon from soup plates or bowls.
Feeds six to eight as a main dish (with bread and cheese, see below), a medium-sized garden party as a side dish. Can also be eaten cold, then use more spices, maybe a splash of vinegar and a bit of honey. (I'd recommend tarragon vinegar, and lavender honey or chestnut honey). If you want to serve it on flat plates, you might want to drain it, or sieve a fine layer of flour on it after adding the canned tomatoes, and stir again.
If you want a little more substance and have some space left in the oven: Baked Sheep's Cheese
Take about 500g of Greek sheep's cheese in thick slices. Grease a dish with olive oil, put the slices in, sprinkle olive oil on top. Then a little ground black pepper, a twig of rosemary, a few slices of garlic and a few slices of lemon. Put it in after you added the diced tomatoes to the vegetable pot, so it bakes for about 20 minutes. (If you have no space in your oven for another dish, wrap in tinfoil and find space on the side of the main dish, or simply put the tinfoiled cheese on top of the veggies.)
We didn't get around to gaming much, but it was not the fault of the food, which is low-effort both in cooking and in serving, but because some players had to put in overtime at work.
