Libra's Ratatouille Recipe

Well, the wife and I saw Ratatouille. It was a charming flick, but more to the point was introduction to a new dish: ratatouille, which is basically French for "vegetable stew", and is open to a wide variety of interpretation. As such, I decided to try my hand at creating my own ratatouille recipe and thought I would share:

LIBRA'S RATATOUILLE (serves 4)

INGREDIENTS

bottom layer herbs: sweet basil, dill sprigs, fox rosemary, sweet marjoram

top layer herbs: italian oregano, italian and curled parsley

half a clove of garlic (minced)

1 stick of unsalted butter

1/2 cup of milk

3 cubes (or TSP) of McCormick Caldo De Tomate Con Pollo (tomato boullion with chicken flavor, available on most grocery store mexican food aisles)

3 cups water

1-2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

7-8oz tomato sauce

1 bunch of green onions.

2 zuchinni squash

1 yellow squash


DIRECTIONS

1. The herbs should, if at all possible, be fresh. If you want to substitute any herbs, keep to this concept: "sweet" herbs on the bottom, "tart" herbs on top.
   
   
2. Pre-heat oven to 425F. Pour the tomato sauce into the bottom of a standard-sized round pie pan and distribute it evenly. Lay your "bottom layer" herbs into the pan, as evenly spread out as possible, and set aside. Do not stir, let the herbs "float" on the tomato sauce.
   
   
3. Slice all 3 squash into circles as thin as possible.
   
   
4. Boil the water in a pot. Once boiling, put in the Caldo De Tomate and stir until fully dissolved, then place sliced squash into the pot, while still boiling. Turn the heat down till it simmers, and cover.
   
   
5. In a different pot, put the milk and butter, turn to a medium-low heat, and cover.
   
   
6. Use this time to slice your green onions as thinly as possible, including some of the green part. Mince your garlic into fine, small bits. Once done, the butter should be well-melted into the milk. If not, wait until it is, then add the Top Herbs, the garlic, and the onions and stir gently. Simmer and cover.
   
   
7. Remove the squash from the burner and drain through a strainer, then lay the slices out in the pan, on top of the tomato sauce, as evenly as possible.
   
   
8. Using a strainer spoon (something with holes or slits in it), scoop out the herbs, onions, and garlic from the butter-sauce, and distribute evenly on top of the squash slices. Once all of it has been distributed, then ladel about 1/4-1/2 cup of the buttersauce juice evenly onto the mixture. If it begins to pool up anywhere, there's too much. Try to stop right before that point.
   
   
9. Place pan into the oven for roughly 10-20 minutes. Once you can smell the dish, wait about 2 minutes, then remove.
   
   
10. Cover evenly with a thin layer of mozzarella cheese, and return to oven for a few minutes. As soon as cheese starts to brown, remove, and let stand for a moment or two, to firm up.
    
    
11. I recommend using a metal spatula to "cut" downward through the ratatouille layers and scoop it onto a plate. A knife won't find enough purchase, and serving spoon won't penetrate without messing up the layers.
    
    
    This will not make enough to be a meal on its own, serve either as a side dish, or the main course, but have other things to complete the dinner. If matching for flavor, match towards chicken.
    
    Enjoy!