This is healthy and delicious version of a french classic. It makes a great side dish and is quick and easy. Leftovers can be stirred into pasta for another meal so that you can cook once but eat twice. The traditional method is a vegetable stew that is made on the stove top. It's not complicated but I prefer to make this in the oven. I like that I can prepare an accompanying dish at the same time that this is cooking in the oven. Also I prefer the use of olive oil instead of the butter called for in the traditional version.
Many recipes say that salting melongene (eggplant) before cooking makes it less bitter but I don't bother. I have never found eggplant to be a particularly bitter vegetable and the family never complains when I cook it. However I must warn you that I generally don't entertain complaints when I cook. If it's not charred beyond all recognition, it's considered edible. Furthermore, if you didn't stand around in a hot kitchen but sat in front of the television waiting for your dinner - you are not entitled to an opinion. Just kidding, everyone is entitled to an opinion. I run a very democratic houshold but trust me, under the aforementioned set of circumstances you are better off keeping your opinion to yourself!
This is one of those dishes where I don't use measured amounts of anything. I just toss stuff together until it looks to be enough. Feel free to use a little more or a little less - whatever.
Oven Roasted Ratatouille ( serves 6)
Ingredients
* 3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced * 3/4 lb eggplant, cut in chunks * 1/2 lb zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch rounds * 1 lb plum tomato, seeded and cut into 4 wedges * 1 sweet red pepper, cut in large strips * 1 yellow sweet pepper, cut in large strips * 2 tablespoons Herbes de Provence or Italian seasoning * 2 tablespoons olive oil * 1 red bell pepper, diced * 1 green bell pepper, diced * 1 yellow bepper, diced * 2 small zucchini, diced * 2 red onions, quartered * 1-2 tablespoon olive oil * 1-2 teaspoon Herbs de provence or mixed Italian herbs
# Place all vegetables and garlic in an ovenproof dish. # 2 Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle herbes de provence or Italian seasoning. Mix well to coat vegetables. # 3 Bake at 400.c for approx 45 mins until vegetables are tender, check after 1/2 hour and stir to ensure even browning. # 4 If your vegetables are particularly juicy you may need to drain a bit of liquid off half way through cooking.
It's true. I love food. I love to eat. But I do not love the daily chore that is cooking. (Gasp!) But wait, you have a food blog, you say. To which I reply, yes the occasional foray into food preparation and creating a healthy, satisfying or at times an extravagant, feast pleases me. Having to do it everyday - does not. The duty bound, run of the millness, everydayness; what the French call le train-train quotidien,of cooking can exhausting and as dull as dirt. So like many home cooks, I have developed routines and quickie cheating versions of kitchen tasks that help me cope.
Case in point, let's examine a hugely popular cooking method the world over. There is some evidence to suggest that barbecue was transported to the rest of the world when Europeans observed the manner in which Amerindians smoked and prepared the meats on a grill called a buccan. Wild game was cured with salt and spices, then covered with wet leaves and cooked on a grill of local wood over an open fire pit. This early method of barbecue was adopted by the French and the word boucaniers buccaneer)was used to describe persons who prepared their meats this way. The term eventually came to describe pirates who I can only surmise found this a convenient cooking method that served their swashbuckling, beach lifestyle.
Convenient though it may have been for early colonial settlers. It's a pain in the butt for a working mom of three - maybe four (counting the days when DH might be acting like a kid himself). Here is my big tip for preparing this popular meal: get your significant other to do it for you:-) Easy enough since the modern day grill seems to draw out a man's primal need to rustle with coals and giant slabs of raw meat which must be tamed with secret marinades, spice rubs, slapped with special sauces and then charred, uhmm I mean grilled. Even if the self same guy doesn't know where to locate a fork in his own kitchen (yes M I am talking about you), he will no doubt be the owner of the Mercedes Benz of outdoor backyard grills. What's more he will be more than willing to show you how to use it with swashbuckling flair. BTW gas grills are for sissies, he'll declare through a cloud of smoke thick enough to keep all but the dragonfly sized mosquitoes away.
I love BBQ. Mr H and I tend to get all dewy eyed when we taste meat that has been smoked to a sweet, smoky, succulent, sticky perfection. Spare ribs at Pussers Marina Cay - we'll be back. Unfortunately, the chances of me hauling out a grill, fanning hot coals under an already sweltering Caribbean hot day, getting smoke in my eyes and my hair are really - NEVER! Instead, when friends invite me to a barbecue, I will ask if it's okay to bring extra meat and whatever extra ingredients the cook might need. These extras are grilled and I take them home for later on in the week. Roll your eyes all you want Marguerite Gorden you have never taste my friend J's barbecue.
Finally, as I say in the title to this post, If I'm doing it I prefer a method that does not sacrifice flavour but at the same time gets lunch or dinner on the table in quick time. Oven BBQ chicken is a very popular cheat version that appears often on the table for Sunday Lunch in many homes. There are many variations to suit personal preferences. The only must here is that your herbs should be fresh. Okay so the purists out there are probably firing up their own grills now to roast me for deigning to name my baked chicken, bbq. All I can say is so long as you have that grill lit, May I come over with a few extra pieces of meat ;-)?
So here it is my quickie version of BBQ chicken done in the oven better known as (It's too damned hot to BBQ Chicken recipe! Or for those of you approaching Winter in your country feel free to swap out the word hot for cold.)
3 1/2 - 4lbs chicken, cut up 1 lime 1 tsp salt 1 tsp minced garlic 2 tbs spoons green seasoning 2 cups Hunts bold (or your favourite babbecue sauce 1/2 cup ketchup (optional) splash Lea and Perrins worcestershire sauce 1 tsp Caribbean pepper sauce ( made with scotch bonnet or Congo peppers)
1) Wash chicken with lime. Squeeze one lime in 3/4 cup of water. Add to bowl of cut up raw chicken and mix. Pour off the lime water.
2) Season chicken with salt, garlic and green seasoning. Leave in the fridge overnight of at least 1/2 hour
3) Place skin side up on a foil lined baking dish. Discard marinade. Sprinkle some additional green seasoning over chicken. Mix the ketchup, barbecue sauce and the pepper. Cover chicken with this sauce and bake for 35 - 40 mins at 325 degrees F.
4) Remove from the oven. Coat chicken with additional barbecue sauce and return to the oven.
5) Cook until done about 15 mins more, basting occasionally until chicken has a nice colour and the sauce is a thick gravy. You could always add a little water to it for a thinner sauce. We like a cooked sauce and this saves us the extra step of cooking one on the stove.
Okay lets talk green seasoning. This is the key to this dish. Cynthia over at Tastes Like Home has already blogged extensively on it so I will point you to her site. So click here to read more about it. I make my seasoning using chives, celery, Spanish, French and Portuguese thyme, Trinidad seasoning peppers, chadon beni and garlic.
When you are in love, research has shown that a large part of the cerebral cortex which is responsible for judgement and reasoning is deactivated to the point where you do stupid things. It can be argued that the same thing happens when one is inebriated. In my case it's just my innate weirdness gene and neither of the aforementioned that made me decide to grow my own mint for the sole purpose of making my own mojitos.
Years ago, my good friend D introduced me to the mojito and I fell in love. Unfortunately, it isn't very often that I find a place that serves mojitos due to the fact that fresh mint is only sporadically available here - if at all.
Finding a mint plant was easy. The garden shops have a good supply of a few varieties, spearmint, chocolate mint, ordinary mint. Growing it is not so hard. It doesn't do well in our full Caribbean sun. It seems to prefer filtered light and doesn't like it when the soil dries out. Water well. It bounces back easily from periods of drought i.e when you have forgotten to water it.
Why then is this a post about ice-cream and not a highball glass, beaded with condensation from a lovely cold mojito? In short, dear friends, I do not own a muddler. In the event that you even care about my mojito dilema let me describe one for you. As much as I am tempted to use the term to describe a particular Minister who sought to defend his Ministry's purchase of a 2 million dollar flag - a muddler is not a politician. Even if said politician attempted to clarify for the public that the flag itself only cost $18,000 and the design and engineering of the pole could not be considered to be part of the cost of the flag, but was a separate cost entirely. Mr. Minister further muddled the issue by suggesting that citizens should not protest the asstronomical cost (not a typo). Instaed we should rejoice with the national pride that this flag was meant to inspire. Befuddled are we?
Let me clarify.
This is a muddler Yes you may consider gifting me with one. (D are you listening?)
This is NOT a muddler (though it may behave like one)
As much as one is tempted to think otherwise - a muddler is in fact a doohicky that one uses to bruise the leaves to releases the oils of the mint into your drink. In my quest to become my own mojito barrista, I discovered that processing mint leaves in a blender does not work. Also, your loved ones will not tell you that you have leaf bits stuck between your teeth, preferring instead to make jokes to get you to smile even more.
Fresh Mint Chocolate Chip Ice-cream
2 1/2 cups light cream, half-and-half or milk (whole or skim), or a combination
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
3 cups of fresh mint leaves (not stems), rinsed, drained, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 quarter cups chocolate chips
1. Put the mint leaves in a heavy saucepan with 2 cups cream, half-and-half or milk, in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Heat until just steaming (do not let boil), remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 30 minutes. Reheat the mixture until steaming add the sugar and salt. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and let stand for 15 more minutes.
2. Strain the milk cream mixture into a bowl, pressing against the mint leaves with a wooden spoon to get the most liquid out of them. Return the milk cream mixture to the saucepan. In a bowl, blend cornstarch with remaining 1/2 cup cream, half-and-half or milk; there should be no lumps. Add cornstarch mixture to pot. Cook, stirring, until it starts to thicken and barely reaches a boil, about 5 minutes. Immediately reduce heat to very low and stir for 5 minutes or so until thick. Stir in vanilla extract.
3. If mixture has lumps, strain it into a bowl. Chill until cool, When cooled, pour into an ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Add chocolate chips according to the manufacturers instructions - usually in the last 10 - 5 mins of churning.
Yield: 1 generous pint. ( A pint is only 2 cups!)
Okay so for the ice-cream I consulted with my BIFF (Best Internet Friend's for life) Mark Bittman, David Lebovitz and Elise Bauer. Awwright, Awwright so these people don't actually know that I exist but I visit their sites often enough. Funny how social networking has legitimized stalking. Anyway my BIFFS inspire me with their recipes and I am in awe of their curiosity about and skill with food. These guys have such a large following of fans, that I am a little bit afraid to be anything less than adoring. Still, friends tell friends the truth don't they? So here is how our conversation went....
Elise says, "The taste of the ice cream using fresh mint really is out of this world, so if you can get your hands on fresh mint, I highly recommend using it for this ice cream."
Wizzy: " Elise, now you know you are my girl and fresh ingredients are usually best but in this instance I prefer my home-made not gourmet so it's peppermint oil for my ice-cream the next time.
Dav-ee-d says: Strain the mint-infused mixture through a mesh strainer into a medium saucepan (the milk will be a lovely shade of emerald.)
Wizzy: Dav-ee-d. Mah boy! I hope jewlery is not on your signifiant other's christmas list! No it doesn't.
David: W - ee -zy, I don't want to say that you are culinary challenged but maybe maybe your mint was just a little bit chlorophyll challenged.
Robin Lee : It couldn't only be for me that eating fresh mint ice cream killed the desire to eat the regular stuff that I grew up on ever again.
Wizzy: Girlfriend, I tried to go there with you and Dav-ee-d. You are my BIFF after all. Sadly it was not to be. Fresh mint tastes like grass. Fresh minty grass but there is the unmistakable grass flavour which in my very unimportant opinion ( only have 45 followers ) while you no doubt have thousands. is just so wrong in any dessert.
Wizzy: Marcos, your cornstarch recipe liberated me from the drama that was pudding. thanks but I'll not be taking you up on that offer for ice-cream at your house. Your cornstartch recipe has made me a star man but a pint cannot be descibed as generous. It's just two cups, man.
A muddler I need a mojitoegineering of the pole and twhea dohicky used to here Such was my love for the drink that I decided to for months after I ( maybe in part due to insobriety)I'll admit but I was smite to the point where. Yes I decided to ot due to insobrietyin love (n but One major difference between love and hate appears to be in the fact that large parts of the cerebral cortex – associated with judgement and reasoning – become de-activated during love, whereas only a small area is deactivated in hate.. Why do I grow my own mint?
