Ratatouille

Saturday November 24

On Thanksgiving, after we had cooked all day and eaten all afternoon, everyone sat down to watch the animated film Ratatouille. We were charmed by the clever drawings and script, though while all the publicity for the movie concentrated on how the artists studied the movements and actions of real chefs, we were struck by how much they had studied the movements and actions of real rats.

The climax, of course, is the desperate moment when Remy the rat comes up with an elegant version of ratatouille to serve to the restaurant critic Anton Ego. The recipe was adapted from one by Thomas Keller, who also served as advisor to the film, and can be found on the World on a Plate blog.

We certainly didn't make such an elaborate, benriner-intensive recipe when we got home to our clean but cold house after a 350-mile drive from Illinois. Instead, we did the simplest version (no tomato-skinning, no pepper-roasting) of the peasant dish, cleaning out our vegetable bins for the various ingredients, and gradually shedding our coats in the grateful warmth of steam from the stew, while the furnace slowly brought the house's temperature up to the low 60s.

So heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a big non-reactive pot (avoid aluminum, unless you want your eggplant to resemble your rapidly decreasing gray-matter) and sauté a two large chopped onions and two minced cloves of garlic until transparent. Cube up two large eggplants (skinned, if necessary), add them to the pot with a dollop more oil, and keep cooking, adding more oil if they begin to stick or burn. When the eggplant cubes are dark and tender, throw in about a cup of chopped green pepper; we used our garden poblanos of course, but bell peppers of any color are fine. Cook a bit more, then add two cups of finely-chopped or puréed fresh tomatoes - again, these were from our garden, but good canned tomatoes are fine too. At the same time, sprinkle in about 2 Tbsps. of chopped fresh oregano, the same amount of fresh thyme leaves, and if you're not using poblanos, a dash of red pepper flakes. Let it all stew for 30 minutes more, until the flavors are melded and all the vedge is tender. Taste, and add salt as needed; if it needs a bigger shot of tomato flavor, squeeze in some tomato paste from a tube. Serve in big bowls with grated parmesan or romano cheese on top.

If you have leftovers (and we didn't), just wait - this tastes even better the second day.