Ridiculously Good Oven-Baked Ratatouille

What I like most about this Mark Bittman-inspired Ratatouille recipe, is that the fresh vegetables are baked, not fried, thus making it more of a Tian of Provencal Vegetables.  It's absolutely delicious, and the recipe could not be easier!

I start with 1 Bermuda onion, 1 Anaheim pepper, 1 poblano pepper, 2 Italian eggplants, 2 zucchini, 2 Roma tomatoes, and 5 heads of garlic.  First, I slice the onion and peppers into long, thin strips.  Next, I slice the eggplant, zucchini and tomato lengthwise into 1/4-inch  slices, and finally, I peel and slice the garlic into very thin slices.

I also chop about 1/2 cup of Italian flat leaf parsley.

In a casserole, I start layering the vegetables, starting with half of the onion slices,...

... followed by half of the sliced eggplant,...

... followed by half of the sliced the tomatoes, half of the pepper strips, and half of the zucchini slices.

Then I add half of the sliced garlic and half chopped parsley, as well as sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste...

...and repeat.

I drizzle 1/4-cup of very good extra virgin olive oil over the top, cover, add a bit more salt and pepper, and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, pressing down the vegetables with a spatula every 1/2 hour or so until the vegetables are soft and completely cooked through.

The finished dish is divine, served hot, cold, or room temperature.  We love it along side rice or bulgur, and it also makes a great starter.

Medley of Leek, Carrot, Squash and Tomato Cooked in Olive Oil -- Zeytınyağlı Pırasa (Kind Of, Sort Of)

It's not that I dislike meat, it's just that I really LOVE vegetables, and let's face it, vegetables are exceedingly more attractive than animal flesh, and they require a lot less processing to make them taste delicious.  Take this super simple vegetable medley comprised of leeks, carrots, squash, tomatoes, and onion, cooked with a bit of rice in some extra virgin olive oil, and seasoned with nothing more than salt, ground black pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.  This is actually my loose interpretation of the Turkish olive oil dish Zeytınyağlı Pırasa, or Leeks in Olive Oil, and it is really delicious.  In fact, my guinea pigs for this lovely plate of cooked vegetables were my sixteen year old son Noah and his posse, Wylie, Khing, and Kha, and I must say this group of insatiable teenage boys pretty much devoured the entire plate of cooked vegetables, which of course made me very happy!

* * * * *

I start with 4 leeks, 3 long, skinny carrots, 2 yellow zucchinis (you can certainly substitute green ones), 1 medium sized tomato, and 1/2 a white onion.  First, I wash the leeks really well, slice them -- at an angle -- into a combination of 1-inch and 2-inch pieces, including some of the more tender green portions, and wash them a second time.  Next I slice all the remaining vegetables into long, thin slices, like so.

I start by heating up 1/4 cup of very good olive oil in a shallow pot, and sautéing the onion over a medium heat for about 2 minutes, until tender.  Then I add the leeks and carrots, and continue to sauté for 2 more minutes, stirring pretty much constantly.

Next, I add in the squash and tomatoes, along with a couple of fresh basil leaves, and sauté everything, stirring gently, for just a few more minutes.

I sprinkle in a scant 1/3 cup of long grain rice, along with a 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, a few grinds of fresh ground black pepper, and about 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice.  Finally, I pour 1-1/2 cups of hot water over the top, give everything a quick stir, and when the liquid comes to a boil, I cover the pot, and simmer everything over a very low heat for about 30 minutes until the rice is cooked and the vegetables are tender (but not mushy).

The finished dish has a great balance of color, texture, and flavor.  This large plate of vegetables was gobbled up by the boys so quickly, in fact, that I wish I had made more!

Banana Peppers and Frog Balls

It is always such a treat when we get to spend time with our friends Lisa and Jack who live in the Bay Area.  When we last visited them in their beautiful home in San Anselmo just a few months ago, we all spent an amazing day following the Sonoma-Marin Cheese Trail tasting delicious artisanal cheeses and luscious Sonoma wines.  Our time together just flew by, so when Lisa and Jack decided to pop down to L.A. for a very quick trip last weekend, we were very excited to see them again and pick up where we left off.

As background, let me just say that Lisa, an incredibly gifted gardener, has the greenest thumb I've ever seen.  She has been watching me salivate over her home-grown vegetables for decades -- her fresh-picked corn will forever turn you off any you get from the market!  So of course, with no time for harvesting before their early morning departure, during the long journey down Interstate 5 Lisa and Jack felt compelled to make a little detour and pick up these gorgeous banana peppers from a Central Valley farm stand, just for me.

They also picked up this very questionable jar.  (I can only blame Jack for this one!)

Actually, it turns out that "Frog Balls" are pickled brussel sprouts, and they are tangy, crunchy, and sooo delicious.  But it's the peppers that really excited me.  Lisa, like me, loves everything Turkish, and I'm certain when she saw the peppers they reminded her of the delicious pepper dishes we enjoyed so much together in Turkey.  So as soon as I saw them, I immediately decided to make a very simple Turkish zeytinyagli ("with olive oil") dish highlighting the peppers.  Here is the recipe for this super easy, delicious, and VB6 compatible side dish:

First I rinse, seed, and slice six peppers into tiny rounds.

Then I peel and dice two juicy tomatoes, and I sprinkle a bit of salt on them.

Next, I heat up 2 tablespoons of good quality extra virgin olive oil and saute the peppers on a medium heat, stirring often, for about 3 minutes. 

I then add the tomatoes and cook for an additional 3 minutes until the tomatoes and peppers are softened.  Next I add a touch of white vinegar (about 1/4 teaspoon) and just a tiny pinch of sugar.  Finally, I add a bit of salt and pepper to taste.

These peppers are delicious served as a side dish, either room temperature or chilled, and will keep in the refrigerator for several days.  Enjoy!



Stuffing Vegetables with More Vegetables

Saturday is Farmer's Market day in Playa del Rey, and today this great big zucchini really caught my eye.

As soon as I saw it, I knew that I had to stuff it, but with what?  Then it came to me.  I'll do a twist on the Turkish classic, Imam Bayildi, a delicious dish of eggplant stuffed with a mixture of onions, tomatoes, peppers and garlic.  After all, what could be more VB6-worthy than a giant vegetable stuffed with more vegetables!  To the purist, the substitution of zucchini for eggplant in this iconic dish might be viewed as sacrilege, but I think it sounds yummy, so I'm going for it.  (And of course, it is perfectly fine to substitute smaller zucchinis for the large one, but if you do, then adjust cooking times, keeping an eye on finished product during the baking stage to ensure it does not become overcooked and mushy.)

First, I peel off the zucchini skin in strips.

Then I cut the zucchini in half and hollow it out, like so.

Next, I slice a large white onion into thin vertical slices, crush two cloves of garlic, and peel and slice two large juicy tomatoes.  I like to put a little salt on the tomatoes to enhance their flavor.

This is a Turkish olive oil dish -- a vegetable dish (no meat!) cooked in olive oil and generally eaten cold --so I drop the onions, garlic and tomatoes into a shallow pot with about 1/4 cup of very good olive oil and saute them, stirring occasionally, for about five minutes.

While the tomatoes, onions and garlic are cooking, I chop up a big handful of Italian flat leaf parsley, toss it into the pot, and cook the ingredients for another 5 minutes or so.  When finished, the onions and tomatoes should be tender, but not mushy.  I set this aside and let it cool for a bit.

While the tomato and onion mixture is cooling, I slice some Anaheim peppers into thin strips and fry them in just a little bit more olive oil until they are tender.

I fill the zucchini with the cooked tomato and onion mixture, place the sauteed peppers on top, and put the stuffed zucchinis into a casserole dish with 1/4 cup of water and a drizzle of olive oil at the bottom of the dish.  I cover the whole thing with foil, and bake it at 350 degrees for at least and hour.  After an hour, I remove the foil, and let the zucchinis continue to bake until tender (for another 15-30 minutes).

The finished dish looks like this and should be served at room temperature or cold.  For those of you who are not used to cold cooked vegetables, I promise you are in for a treat!

Introduction

That morning I turned on KCRW and caught the tail end of Evan Kleiman's interview of Mark Bittman I was immediately encouraged to change my eating habits.  A longtime fan of Mr. Bittman's cookbook, How to Cook Everything, I was intrigued to hear him talking about his new approach to eating, which he coined "VB6" (an acronym for "Vegan before 6:00" [pm]).  In short, Mr. Bittman advocates eating vegan all day, until the last meal of the day when you are free to indulge a little. The idea is to eat healthy whole foods, and reduce your carbon footprint by only having a maximum of one non-vegan meal a day.  He promotes eating less meat and dairy, and when you do have it, consuming only the highest quality meat and dairy products, namely organic, humane, hormone and antibiotic free options.  This immediately made so much sense to me, so I bought his book, read it cover to cover, and went shopping!

You know, my very wise husband once pointed out to me that as human beings, we are really only meant to eat what we can gather, grow or kill ourselves.  Well, I don't have the ability (or the inclination) to kill anything -- at most, maybe I could catch a fish -- but I can certainly gather, process, prepare and cook food, and perhaps on occasion I could even trade some of those skills in for some kind hunter's meat.  The point being, we are not supposed to be eating meat all the time.  In fact, the mass production of meat in our society is destroying the environment as well as our collective health.  Yet meat can be DELICIOUS, so we must be judicious about the quality and quantity of meat we consume.

I've been following the VB6 plan for about three weeks now, and I feel great.  I thought it might be fun to share some of my experiences and recipes in this casual format, so here goes!

Today my friend Susie and I hit the Playa del Rey Farmer's Market bright and early.  There I discovered a great VB6 breakfast option -- a delicious vegan tamale made with corn, spinach and artichoke hearts.  It totally hit the spot.  I then hit the produce stands in search of VB6 recipe inspirations and snacks.  Here are some of the delicious and nutritious items I bought. (Note, the wine was already on my table.)

The green beans were fresh and beautiful, as were the tomatoes, so I decided to make one of our favorite Turkish dishes, Zeytinyagli Taze Fasulye (Green Beans in Olive Oil), a delicious and perfectly compliant VB6 meal.  This dish is generally served at room temperature or even cold, so it is a great dish to make ahead and bring to work for lunch.

Recipe:

Wash and clean about 1-1/2 lbs of green beans.  Many people remove the top and tail, and cut the beans in half, but they are much better long, and there is absolutely no reason to remove the tops as they are tender and delicious.  Place the beans in a big pot or Dutch oven.  Next, slice 1 white onion.  Again, it's common in this recipe to grate the onion or chop it all up into small bits, but it's soooo much better texturally when the onions are cut into very long thin strips.  Similarly, I peel and slice two or three large tomatoes into rather big chunks.

Add the onions and the tomatoes (sliced into 8ths) to the pot of green beans.

Sprinkle with Kosher salt, and grate in some lemon rind.  Just a little lemon rind adds real depth to the flavors of the dish.  Next pour in 1/2 cup of good olive oil and heat on high for several minutes, turning mixture with a wooden spoon until the beans turn very bright green.  Then add about 2 cups of boiling water, and cover and simmer until the beans are tender (but not mushy).

Put the beans onto a serving platter with some of the juice from the pot.  Season with about two tablespoons on fresh lemon juice, as well as salt and pepper if needed.  Garnish with lemon and chopped parsley and serve at room temperature, or refrigerate and serve cold. 

The Green Beans in Olive Oil, served with Red Quinoa made for an especially good VB6 lunch today!  And if I were serving this for dinner, I would definitely top with plain yogurt.