Rat-a-tat-ouille

A while ago, Ruby Red Vegan told me I just *had* to see the movie, Ratatouille. So I took her advice one night and, along with my parents (and Molly, who adores tv-watching), saw the film. The movie was adorable-- just like Ruby Red said it'd be. But I was left with a HUGE craving... for ratatouille, of course!


So the very next day, I bought all the ingredients to make my own ratatouille. It sure cured my craving; the only thing missing was Remy the Rat to help me cook.


Remy, if you're out there, I'm in the market for a sous chef. (Although my mom *might* not be too receptive to the idea of a rat in the kitchen...)


As the following picture shows, I made an enormous batch of ratatouille. Because cooking is not my favorite thing, when I do cook, I like to make extra servings and freeze the leftovers. These particular leftovers lasted quite a while!

Ratatouille, fluffy brown rice, and lime wedges (after I took this picture, I spritzed some lime on a little of the rice, decided the flavor was NOT complimentary to the ratatouille, and that was the end of the pretty lime wedges!)

Some of the leftovers made a reeeeaally great post-run breakfast-- with 2 slices of toast, vegan butter, and frozen grapes.

Other fun ways to enjoy ratatouille? Wrap some up in a tortilla, and you can call it either of these two snazzy names:

1. Rata-tilla

2. Wrap-tatouille

Yeah, there are millions of ratatouille recipes floating around the internet. But-- why not?-- I'm going to add mine to the bunch.

Little Vegan's Rat-a-tat-ouille

(I tripled the recipe to get the amount shown in the first picture. This recipe freezes well.)

1 medium onion, chopped
2 red peppers, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed (I always add a bit more, but then again, I am a garlic fiend)
½ lb eggplant, cubed
1 ½ lb zucchini, sliced
3 tbsp fresh basil, minced
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Sauté all the ingredients in your sautéing liquid of choice, until the veggies are tender. (Conversely, you can just combine all the ingredients in a big pot and cook. This is my preferred method, because I like making a huge batch, and it won’t all fit in a sauté pan.) Serve hot.

Housekeeping notes:

1. To the five lovely ladies to whom I owe emails: I haven't forgotten you! I just want to take time in my responses, not just send off a quick, thoughtless email. Expect emails soon (and Allison, I especially apologize to you that it's been sooooo long!).

2. It's my chocolate-covered birthday in THREE days!!! Yay to the max!