Summertime food — ratatouille

I spent some time going through hundreds of slides yesterday, looking for some pictures of our 1993 trip to Provence. I haven't found any yet, but I have another big box full of slides to inspect today. Meanwhile, yesterday was another ratatouille day. Ratouille is a pot of stewed summer vegetables — tomatoes, zucchini (courgettes), bell peppers (poivrons), eggplant (aubergines) cooked with olive oil, onions, and herbs including thyme, oregano, and bay leaves.

Julia Child, who spent a lot of time in Provence, says of ratatouille it that cooking it "perfumes the kitchen with the essence of Provence and is certainly one of the great Mediterranean dishes." It's good served hot or cold (with a little bit of olive oil drizzled on it).

One thing I did this time that I don't always do was to lightly sauté the peppers, zucchini, and eggplant, all cut into strips or cubes, to give them a little color before putting them into a wok to cook them completely. The color turns into wonderful flavor. I put less liquid in the wok, too, letting the ripe tomatoes from our garden produce enough liquid for the cooking process. Separately, Walt grilled a couple of chicken breasts to complete the meal.

Ratatouille originated in the city of Nice on the Côte d'Azur and is widely served and appreciated in Provence and all of southeastern France. The first time I ever tasted it was at a sidewalk café in Marseille in 1970.