Tags
blog, blogging, family, Joely Sue Burkhart, movies, Raelyn Barclay, Ratatouille, recipes, Vegetarian
I’m not talking about this —
But rather this —
Joely put out a call for Vegetarian meals recently and I pulled this one out for her. This is something all my kids eat ever since watching the movie. If you have extras from your garden this is a great way to use them up. Additionally, you serve it at room temp or cold so perfect for a hot summer day.
1/2 cup olive oil
2 eggplants, cubed
6 zucchini, cubed
2 onions, sliced
3 green peppers, sliced (I usually use yellow and/or red…kids love the extra color)
1 small bunch celery, sliced
6 cloves garlic, slivered
1 28-oz can tomato puree (I usually use diced tomato rather than puree)
2 sticks cinnamon
1 cup raisins or currants
2 bay leaves
1 Tbsp. salt
1 tsp. EACH dried oregano, basil, and thyme
2 Tbsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
In large, heavy pot, heat oil. Over med-hi heat, saute about 10 minutes the eggplants, zucchini, onions, peppers, celery, and garlic until veggies are heated through and glisten. Add tomatoes, cinnamon, raisins, bay leaves, salt, herbs, black pepper to taste, and sugar. Partially cover the pot. Cook over low heat for 2 hours or until liquid is reduced and flavors are combined. During last 15 minutes add wine vinegar. Taste and correct seasonings. There should be a pungent, sweet-sour taste. Cool mixture. Cover and chill overnight. Flavor will improve and become rich upon standing. Serve cold or at room temperature.
Wee Beastie Rating:
😈 😈 😈 😈
Raelyn Barclay 
Sounds heavenly!!!
You’ll have to let me know what you think if you try it 🙂
Aw, thank you! I’ll definitely give it a try, though the monsters stick their noses up at anything with peppers.
Funny story – last night I made vegetarian lasagna. I planned to make a meat version too, but I was trying a new recipe (in the crockpot) and I just didn’t have time over lunch to get the hamburger ground. So veggies for everyone. It wasn’t too bad until the monsters realized that some of the white stuff wasn’t cheese.
It was cauliflower. Oh, boy, you would’ve thought I’d kicked our dog! How dare I try to slip nasty cauliflower into their lovely cheese?!? (The recipe called for shredded carrots, which I guess would have been less sneaky, but I didn’t have time to shred them, either.)
Hamburger BROWNED. I didn’t have to grind it from scratch!
LOL, that nasty cauliflower! My kids don’t like it much either. I’ve done a crock pot lasagna before but wasn’t impressed with the results.
You could probably leave the peppers out. I certainly reduced the number (I think the original recipe called for 5 total). I’ll be interested to hear how it goes over with your family 🙂
Sounds yummy, except eggplant and I don’t get along. I’ve had tummy trouble every time I’ve eaten it. Maybe I could replace it with more varieties of squash… Hmm. Worth a shot.
I’m sure you could. Seems I’ve seen a version of this that calls for pumpkin. I’d be interested to hear how your experiment goes 🙂
Pumpkin? I’m not sure I’d want to use pumpkin. A variety of green & yellow squashes, though…
I can almost smell it!
Oh, that would be a cool blog widget…the online version of scratch and sniff, LOL
Ratatouille is one of my all-time favorite animated movies EVER. And the dish is pretty darn good too. 🙂
Yeah, it’s a cute movie. I love it just for the fact it got my kids eating something they wouldn’t have wanted to try otherwise 🙂
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This is my kind of meal! I’m so glad you’re posting recipes again. Do you serve it with rice or bread?
LOL, it’s called being hot and at a loss as to what to post. Though, it might make a nice feature, maybe once a month. We shall see 🙂
It’s like a stew, so usually I serve it with a nice crusty bread. I suppose you could serve it over rice or noodles if you wanted to.
For you and Greg, you’d probably want to half the recipe. This serves my family of 6 (keeping in mind I have a bottomless pit teen in the house) with 2-3 leftover servings for lunches.
It sounds amazing, but my family would never eat it. I have to hide veggies to get them to eat it. My husband is the worst. I’d like some, though. 🙂
I was surprised when my kids asked me to make it after watching the movie. “Seriously? Y’all know it’s veggies, right?” 😆 And we did try a few different recipes before finding this one. If I could I’d send you some the next time I make it.