Ratatouille!* (The recipe, that is)

Do you ever get nostalgia for foods that completely define a certain season for you? For me, it's ratatouille in the fall. I remember the first time my Mom made it a couple years ago as a part of Thanksgiving dinner; it was a sensation to eat! For me, it simply tasted like autumn. Since then, it has been a must-make for the autumn/winter season. (Thus my reason for adding it to my Thanksgiving meal this year.) I also used canned diced tomatoes--not only easier, but the liquid adds a certain something to it!

Autumn Ratatouille

½ cup olive oil

2 unions, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium eggplant, peeled and diced

4 tomatoes, peeled and diced

2 zucchinis, peeled and diced

1 stick celery, diced

2 tbsp fresh basil

1 tbsp oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, lightly brown unions and garlic in olive oil. This should take 6 to 8 minutes.

Next, add the eggplant and tomatoes and continue to cook for an additional 4 to 5 minutes.

Then add the remaining ingredients, lower the heat to a gentle simmer and cook for approximately 1 hour, stirring from time to time. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 4-6

*Note: The vegetables should be cut to the size of small walnuts and you may wish to add other vegetables of your choice, such as sweet peppers, hot peppers, and squash. This ratatouille is an excellent accompaniment to lamb, chicken, turkey or roast pork. I often have it as a vegetarian meal served with cornmeal bread drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled liberally with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. It is best to make one day ahead and will keep well refrigerated for up to one week.

(*Disclaimer: I have never actually seen Ratatouille the movie)

ps: Like the new layout? I've been looking around for a more suitable one, and I figured this one will do me fine for now. But I may switch things up again, should I find one that I like. Stay tuned...

Homemade Chicken Soup

Happy November! Whew, 58 days left in 2009 (and 52 til Christmas!), if you can believe it. Hope your Halloween was--well, spooky. I spent mine indoors this year, handing out candy, eating candy, and watching "The Orphanage", or El orfanato, to be accurate--a really good Spanish movie that will definitely give you the heeby-jeebies.

To summarize my October (since Thanksgiving), it has been a steady stream of deadlines, with little time to do much else, other than eat, sleep, and go to class. I did, however, get a smidge of time last weekend to put together chicken soup! First time, too. I got it from my Mom, who absolutely prides herself on it. It's a great recipe to turn to when the weather gets cold, and way easy to put together. Once you have it, it's just so.... warming! (I personally think it was as good as my Mama's.)

***For removing the chicken neck, I found this blog most helpful. Be sure to save it and add it to your chicken, because it will give your broth flavour :)

Homemade Chicken Soup

1 Whole Chicken (I use a fryer, but any whole chicken will do)

Enough Water to Cover Chicken in Large Pot

The quantities for the ingredients below are up to you, really.

3 Cups, Carrots, Chopped

2 Cups, Celery, Chopped

2 Cups, Onions, Chopped

Fresh Dill, Chopped

2 Cloves Garlic, Minced

3 Tbsp. Salt to taste (if you don’t use enough salt, it will taste like dish

detergent, according to Ina Garten!)

2 Tbsp. Pepper to taste

Wash chicken thoroughly and remove innards (giblet, neck, etc.)

Place in large pot and cover with water. Bring to boil, skimming the surface.

Lower heat to a simmer.

Add vegetables and seasonings. Simmer approximately 4 hours.

When cool, take out the chicken and refrigerate he next day, remove surface fat. Use immediately or pack into containers and freeze for up to 3 months.

"The bottom line is if you take a chance in life, sometimes good things happen, sometimes bad things happen. But honey, if you don't take a chance nothing happens."

~Dorothy Zbornak, Golden Girls

Post Thanksgiving Weekend

My Thanksgiving weekend was pretty good; despite having not been home (school work bound!) to enjoy a lovely home cooked meal of Turkey, a lovely home cooked meal was made here between me and my supa cool friend/housemate N! (Also credited for the drawing above. I get credit for the the words coming from the Irish(?) turkey)

Instead of cooking a turkey, we decided on a roast, because it was simpler to make, and there was only two of us having it. Along with the roast we had ratatouille, mashed turnip, carrots and to top it off, a fantastic apple crisp for dessert! Oh yes, and a nice local wine from a little place called Grand Pre.

On the Saturday, we decided to go to the Farmer's Market for locally grown veggies and fruits that we needed. Always a nice idea if you want to go sustainable/local! If I had time on Saturday mornings (and the will to get up early enough), I'd be heading down to the Market every time.

But on Sunday, we created our Thanksgiving masterpiece!

My wondrous ratatouille

Our fine roast, with turnip and carrots

My dinner plate (the ratatouille has grated parmesan cheese on it)

And lastly, my dessert of apple crisp, dolloped(!) with whipped cream

And following is the recipe used (Credit going to N)! We highly recommend it :) Enjoy!

• 3 pounds tart apples
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup rolled oats
• 4 tablespoons cold butter (1/2 stick)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preparation:

Peel, core and chop the apples; toss in a bowl with lemon juice. In a separate bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg; add to the apples and toss to combine.

In another bowl combine flour, sugar and oats. Cut butter into 8 small pieces, and cut butter into flour with a pastry blender or two forks until mixture is crumbly. Stir in the chopped nuts.

Butter a 9-inch square baking dish. Spread apple mixture in bottom of baking dish then sprinkle with flour mixture. Bake at 375° for 30 to 45 minutes, or until apples are tender and topping is lightly browned.

Serve warm or at room temperature, with vanilla ice cream or a little heavy cream, if desired.

For the link, go here!

The most recent torrential downpour in my neck of the woods

"For after all, the best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain."

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Finding Yourself

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will find them gradually, without noticing it, and live along some distant day into the answer.

~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

Possibly just the prettiest thing I've seen in a while

I am in awe of it.