Sunday, March 01, 2009

Ratatouille Attempt

I like to cook on Sundays. I can start at a reasonable time to make something a little more complicated than a frozen meal or a quickly thrown together salad. I made a quiche a couple of weeks ago, though I do admit to using a Trader Joes frozen pie crust (it was my first pie of any kind). It was fine for a first try. Hmmm, I cooked something else that lasted for a while. Oh yeah, I sauteed brussel sprouts, asian pear, and onion together. This was not bad either but lacked any strong flavor. Today I adventured into ratatouille. This choice was mostly because I wanted to cook tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers, and onion together. The recipe I found called for a few ingredients I discovered that I do not have (my spices are severely lacking); however, I did purchase an 21-spice thing from Costco, and I decided this would just have to do. Well, I also added some oregano in. All in all, it turned out fine, a little spicy for me (that 21-spice seems to be strong on the pepper-side). I had it sprinkled with shredded parmesan cheese. I've included a picture of it in the big pot I had to use to cook it. Oddly enough I have enough ingredients leftover to cook another batch and I might just do that. [Many thanks to Gina for the discussion on colanders and listening to my rattles as I cooked.]