Protean ratatouille (mf)

8 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
⅔ cup Extra virgin olive oil
4 Red bell peppers; cored, seeded and cut into fine julienne
2 Onions; finely sliced
2 pounds Egg plant; scrubbed clean
4 Cloves garlic; finely sliced
28 ounces Plum tomatoes; drained and chopped, or 8 vine ripened tomatoes, peeled and seeded and chopped
1 teaspoon Dried thyme or sprigs of fresh thyme
2 mediums Zucchini; scrubbed clean, 1 pound
2 mediums Yellow squash; scrubbed clean, 1 pound
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Heat olive oil in a large heavy enamellined casserole. Add peppers and onions and saute for a minute to get them cooking. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer very gently until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.

Don't let olive oil get too hot or you will change the flavor. While these are cooking, cut eggplant into 3/4inch chunks. When peppers and onions are tender, add the garlic, eggplant, tomatoes and thyme and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes.

While this is cooking cut zucchini and yellow squash lengthwise into halves or quarters, depending on how thick they are. Remove seeds with a spoon, then cut into ¾ inch lengths. After 30 minutes of stewing eggplant, add zucchini and squash to stew, cover and simmer, over very low heat until all the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes ( you can simmer for another 30 to 40 minutes for more meltingly tender vegetables). Strain the stew through a sieve and return juices back to casserole. Reduce the juices over medium heat until they begin to sizzle in the olive oil. Return this to the stew, season well to taste with salt and pepper. Divide ratatouille into two portions to proceed.

Yield: 8 servings

All Recipes Copyright, 1996, TV FOOD NETWORK, G.P., All Rights Reserved Busted by Gail Shermeyer <4paws@...> Recipe by: COOKING MONDAY TO FRIDAY SHOW #MF6648 Posted to MC-Recipe Digest V1 #793 by 4paws@... (Shermeyer-Gail) on Sep 19, 1997

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