Barbecuey Ratatouille

The other day Thing 1 began screaming. It was that shrill kid cry that adults can never quite identify.  I can’t stand that kind of exclamation it is either glee, cackling or pure pain and no one can ever tell which until you can get eyes on the “victim”!   Sometimes it is as simple an answer as, “the baby smiled at me” other times as innocent and understandable, in my case, as “I saw a BEE!”  I could not see the kids from where I sat in my garden of weedin’ so when Thing 1 screamed I expected the worst.

He came running with his hands over his eyes sputtering all sorts of nonsense that I couldn’t make sense of.

“Are you bleeding?” I blurted.

“No,” he managed.

My kids know that my first response is likely to be one of two things: Is there blood, or Is something dead (namely a pet or woodland creature).  You’d think by now they would come yelling, “No blood mom!”

Finally I got some sense out of my oldest son, whom I’m constantly having to remind myself is still only seven.  “Bubba (who is only 2) threw sand in my eye and on my head!”

The boy accused came toddling over with a look of consternation and stood a little distance off assessing the situation.  I helped Thing 1 to get his eyes to tear and had to practically put him in a straight jacket to keep him from clawing at it.  Once I had that situation fairly handled I put my attention to the discipline of my youngest son.

“Bubba,” I frowned, “it’s not nice to throw sand.  Tell your brother you are sorry!”

He came closer and as I looked I could see that in his own hair was at least twice the sand that the older son had.  Hmmm I pondered.  This little boy dumped sand all over his own head and then got a brilliant idea to throw sand onto his brothers head? Or could it just be that all was not as it seemed.

Upon further investigation I’m sure you can guess how the real story played out and in this instance there were no innocent parties.

Thankfully no one found any creatures in the woods. 

What does all this have to do with dinner?  I think you will be able to follow my logic if you’ve seen Ratatouille.

Ever since watching the Disney movie Ratatouille my boys have been bugging me to make the dish it is named for.  When they first asked, I hadn’t a clue what it was but after perusing the Internet for recipes, watching cooking videos and consulting my culinary expert (my husband) I believe all I have left to say is Eureka! 

In honor of sand and sun I’ve been spending my days outside and my cooking efforts have maily centered around the grill so my challenge was to make Ratatouille without heating up the house or using tons of dishes.  The following recipe is my solution to both.  I reinvented this French dish, a peasants vegetable stew and even the “peasants” in my household couldn’t get enough!

Barbecuey Ratatouille:

Do I really have to go there?  (Shopping List):

Ratatouille is a peasants stew made using various veggies and sometimes served over rice.  You are sticking with the nature of the dish if you include eggplant and zuccini along with any other vegetable that you have on hand or can find cheap. Here are a few items you need as well.

• olive oil
• tomato sauce
• garlic

If I can do it you can do it! (The Recipe):

If you will be serving your Ratatouille with rice now is an excellent time to begin cooking it.

After you have the rice on, gather all your veggies.

I used 1 eggplant, 2 med zucchini, 4 small potatoes, 4 small sweet peppers (or 1 large bell), 1 red onion, 1 tomato.  Other vegetables sometimes used are mushrooms, chickpeas, okra etc.

Juline the eggplant, zucchini and peppers. Cut the potatoes into bite sized pieces and the tomato into wedges.  Slice the onion into rings and place over everything in a disposable tin foil roasting pan.

After you are done slice and dicing, fire up the BBQ.

Once you have all the veggies arranged drizzle olive oil generously over everything.

Place 6 cloves of garlic (peeled and sliced) in a tin foil square and drizzle with olive oil then tightly seal the square and put it in the corner of your roasting pan. Cover the pan with another roaster or tin foil and place on the grill.

Grill the covered veggies over medium heat approximately 20 min.  You will have to check from time to time as some vegetables will cook more quickly.  Flip any that are cooking unevenly and rearrange as necessary.  I burnt a few to the bottom of the pan but we decided we all liked the Cajun flavor!

Once your veggies are cooked through remove any tough skins (I took the skin off the eggplant) and anything burnt beyond recognition. 🙂  Cut everything into bite size pieces and toss into a nonstick skillet over med heat.  Immediately pour in 1 cup of tomato sauce or your favorite spaghetti sauce and toss to coat.  Simmer just until heated through and serve over a bed of rice.

allons, mangez !

This has been another recipe for the “What’s for Dinner Wednesday Blog Carnival” Hosted by the Gluten Free Homemaker. Thanks for stopping and check out more great ideas here!