This even sounds good to me–and I’m not a huge zucchini fan so I thought I’d share this one.
Author Archives: sa.fifer
Ratatouille (slow-cooker)
During the summer abundance of eggplant, squash, and tomatoes we’re often in the OMG-what-can-I-do-with-these-zucchini mode. Ratatouille and caponata provide some good eating even when the hot weather has rather killed the appetite. I thought that being able to do this in the slow-cooker instead of stove-top would be an advantage in sweltering weather that is already taxing the A/C without adding more heat.
It’s easy to find ratatouille recipes–a quick search on the internet will provide a plethora. The question: are they “good” recipes”? I’m not sure I can tell you what (specifically) tells me “good”, “passable”, or “oh yuk”. Most likely past experience, and reading a lot of food science, and (from America’s Test Kitchen) “why this recipe works”.
Here is a ratatouille recipe given by a friend, from Food.com, reproduced below. I’ve never made ratatouille in a slow cooker so I thought this was worth trying. In reading the recipe, I had only a couple questions, so I decided to make the recipe as directed–well, almost–as much as I can–I’m just a compulsive tinkerer, and constitutionally unable to follow a recipe strictly, but almost. 
Looking at the recipe, I knew I’d want more garlic. Had I not been using part frozen peppers (from a Kitchen Disaster), I would not use green peppers–I prefer ripe (red, yellow, or orange) like them. I’m changing the herbs to thyme and oregano, rather than basil (for reasons explained below in Cook’s notes). My other question about this recipe had to do with that quantity of tomato paste. Why?
When I started the prep, I was still undecided about the tomato paste. My inclination was to leave it out because this is an “all fresh” dish, and (to me) tomato paste tastes canned and cooked. Since this does not call for the tomato paste to be added until later, my obvious solution is to wait and see how it tastes, especially since these are summer tomatoes. If I were wanting to supplement the “tomato” part of the flavor I would likely add some sun-dried tomatoes, rather than tomato paste–unless there is a dearth of “umami” (which is one of my reservations about slow-cooker dishes).
Slow Cooker Ratatouille (Food.com)
The modifications that I made on this recipe on the first round are shown in parentheses after the ingredient. These were just to meet my seasoning preferences, not for any other reason. Don’t hold this on “warm”–it just doesn’t do well.
Serves: 6 to 8
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
- salt
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes–about 3 medium
- 1 large green bell pepper, cut into 1/2 inch squares
- 1 large red bell peppers or 1 large yellow bell pepper, cut into 1/2 inch squares
- 3 medium zucchini, sliced
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons dried basil (substitute 1/2 teaspoon thyme and 1/2 teaspoon Turkish oregano)
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed through a press (4 garlic cloves)
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper (held until end as I think it gets bitter with long cooking)
- 1 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
- 1 (5 1/2 ounce) cans pitted ripe olives, drained and chopped coarsely (oil cured black olives)
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil (substitute chopped fresh oregano)
Directions
- Sprinkle the eggplant with salt; let stand in a colander 1/2- 1 hour to drain.
- Press out excess moisture.
- Rinse the eggplant with water and pat dry with paper towels.
- Place the eggplant in crock pot.
- Add onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, zucchini, olive oil, basil, garlic, pepper and 1/2 tsp salt.
- Mix well.
- Cover and cook on high setting about 3 hours or until the vegetables are tender but still hold their shape.
- Stir in the tomato paste, olives, and the fresh basil.
- Serve hot, room temperature or chilled.
Notes: Being of scientific orientation, I decided to do an experiment–half the recipe is cooked as above; and the other half cooked separately, with modifications after I had tasted the results of the original method. First, I had to cook for an additional hour–I thought my rice cooker/slow cooker ran rather hot, but not according to this. After tasting I did add the tomato paste as the tomato flavor was not at all pronounced, but I think the tomato paste (unless browned before adding) doesn’t add the depth I want. I needed more salt (which kind of surprised me because I don’t usually need to add much. Oregano and thyme needed to be bumped up as did the garlic. Those minor things were done to the first batch. So far the onions have stayed crispy and I think I’d prefer them a bit softer so maybe microwave them before putting into the slow cooker (that had to wait because they were already mixed with the other vegetables). This came out with more juice than I’d expected.
Now for the second batch. I’m adding more olives, more garlic (sliced rather than pressed), some red pepper flakes (about 1/8 teaspoon) for a little zing (but not a lot of heat), and sun-dried tomatoes (instead of tomato paste), a bay leaf, and increasing the oregano and thyme. Instead of increasing salt, I’m going to add just a touch of nam pla (fish sauce)–or an anchovy fillet mashed would work. This is not intended to make it at all fishy just more flavorful. This needs to be stirred after an hour so that the bottom veggies don’t mush and the top be a bit undercooked. Check for doneness–don’t just trust the time. I prefer my veggies cooked but with a little “tooth” to them, so in my slow cooker this finishes in about 2 hours. I like this one as there’s no added liquid, except the dash of nam pla and what the veggies give off. Minced fresh oregano added the last 15 minutes of cooking leaves it very fresh tasting.
Bottom line: this is quick and works if you want a very light ratatouille, not complex ratatouille. I don’t want my ratatouille over whelmed with herbs and garlic, but I’d like to make it a bit more complex, or layered flavor–maybe it needs a little more umami It has the advantage of being very quick to assemble.
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As you likely know if you’ve read other posts, I’m somewhat partial to recipes from America’s Test Kitchen. When the published Slow Cooker Revolution I had to check it out. I was hoping that those recipes would improve my attitude to (and increase use of ) my slow cooker. There’s no denying it’s convenience, but generally I’ve simply not been happy with the results when compared with oven or stove-top methods.
A comparison of America’s Test Kitchen recipe with the one above is interesting. One of my “complaints” is that their recipes sometimes seem more complicated–though they do increase flavor. The recipe below is from the Slow Cooker Revolution (Kindle edition). This is the recipe that inspired me to try the one above. The cooking instructions are quite extensive so I’m only going to summarize them for purposes of comparison. I’m trying to find a compromise of best flavor and easy preparation.
Slow-cooker ratatouille (America’s Test Kitchen)
Serves: 10 to 12
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 eggplants (2 pounds), cut into 1-inch chunks
- 3 zucchini (1-1/2 pounds), cut into 1-inch chunks
- 2 onions, halved and sliced 1/4-inch thick
- 2 red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained, juice reserved
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or parsley
- Salt and pepper
- Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
Preparation
- Brown eggplant, half at a time, in olive oil (5 to 7 minutes), and transfer each batch to slow cooker.
- Brown zucchini, half at a time, in olive oil, transferring each batch to slow cooker.
- Cook onions, bell peppers, garlic, and thyme until softened and lightly browned (8 to 10 minutes), stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Whisk in reserved tomato juice, scrape up browned bits, and smooth out lumps, and transfer to slow cooker.
- Stir tomatoes into slow cooker, close and cook until vegetables are tender (4 to 6 hours).
- Season with salt and pepper as needed.
Notes: The time it takes to brown the vegetables really is not that long, so it’s worth the extra flavor. It’s a drastic difference, even when you add some umami-hyping ingredients to the Food.com recipe.
The differences here are, notably, the use of flour to thicken, the lack of tomato paste, and the preparation of the eggplant. One of my reasons for trying the recipe from Food.com is the handling of the eggplant, with the idea that salting to remove fluid might eliminate the need for flour–I doubt that you’d know there was flour in this recipe simply by tasting.
After tasting the first batch of the recipe from Food.com with the adjustments noted in Notes, it’s a keeper for simplicity. The America’s Test Kitchen is a bit richer since you’ve browned the veggies. Either is good–depends on the time and effort you want (or have) to invest.
. . . a son goût
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Hive report
There is considerable relief in the last couple days as I watch the traffic in and out of the hive. There are no longer guard bees clustered on the landing board–they are able to do their job from inside the hive since the sticky mess of spilled syrup has mostly been removed by changing the cement blocks that were saturated with it, and there’s been some rain that apparently help wash away what was on the hive and the ground.
It’s very relaxing to watch the steady traffic of bees coming with pollen–white, yellow, orange, and some greenish in color.–and then heading back out for more.
Only the very occasional bald-faced hornet seen now and the yellowjackets seem to have either been trapped or decided that the sugar left around the hive is not worth fighting the guard bees for.
Gluten-free breads
For those of you who might be interested in gluten-free breads, I wanted to share this link. I’ve not tried any of the gluten free recipes, since I don’t have an issue with gluten. I’ve tried breads from both the other five-minutes-a-day breads, and had good results with every recipe I’ve tried.
Available in hardcover, and digital format. Based on my experience with these books, If I needed gluten-free I would certainly give this a try–at least check it out of the library for a trial.
Watermelon Pecorino Salad
This is such an awesome salad–I’ve used feta, but I think the pecorino would be great as well. The combination of mint and salt and melon. . .
Salmon with asparagus in an Epoisses sauce
Epoisses is one of my most favorite cheeses–not necessarily easy to get. I don’t usually think of cheese with fish, but I want to give this a try. Now to find some Epoisses. . . .
What I want to prove here is how well you can pair a cheese sauce with fish. The EpoIsses sauce is lighter than the one I would normally have with meat – and the flavour really enhances the flavours of the salmon. I used 100gm of Epoisses cheese chopped up and melted slowly in a dry pan. Then sprinkle with a grind or two of black pepper, and then add 150 ml of single cream. Gently warm through – it will thicken a little but not too much.
I served it with poached salmon, asparagus and oven cubed potatoes roasted with thyme and garlic.
If you have never thought to try this – you must. Not an obvious pairing but …..IT WORKS!
A pestilence of ants
Perhaps pestilence is a bit too strong a term, since I’m not literally dealing with plague, but I’m frustrated.
I’m not used to seeing insects strolling about my kitchen, but lately I keep seeing those little tiny brown or black ants that are called “sweet-eating” or “sugar” ants. I’ve had them invade before–you know, the moving black line, marching steadily toward something. . . .
But these aren’t in a column, a cluster, or even a group! If they were in a marching column, I could see where they are coming from, and where they were going. them. I could attack them effectively with traps or spray. If I knew where they were coming from, I’d sprinkle cinnamon or lay cinnamon sticks out.
Well, these aren’t marching purposefully toward anything. They aren’t even marching–they’re meandering. They aren’t obviously coming from anywhere. 
They act as if they were on a Sunday afternoon stroll–not exactly wandering–each individual seems to know where it is going but with no particular destination all, just one or two at a time, and in various directions, nothing consistent. The little b-….er, beasties are just there and they have been for weeks. Only a few at a time–just continually there.
If there were hordes, masses of them streaming across the counter, I wouldn’t really be surprised. Since the bees arrived, I’ve been mixing sugar syrup to feed them. I’ve had more sugar in my kitchen in the last three weeks than I’ve probably had in the whole rest of my life. Until the bees arrived (and needed feeding until the fall nectar flow really gets going), I bought sugar by the one-pound boxes since I couldn’t get anything smaller. Now I’m bringing it in four-pound bags–several at a time, and mixing simple syrup by the gallon. So–I’d expect “sugar” ants. I could deal with the massive march that had an origin and a destination.
But that is not what seems to be happening here. They are not even walking purposefully–they’re just promenading ants!
Still Sticky, continued
We had some rain last night, but it seems that all it did was to make the spots where the sugar syrup spilled wet again, and get attention back to those.
Bald-faced hornets (BFH) and yellowjackets are still skulking around the hive. I’ve put out traps–homemade ones–with soda for the yellowjackets and meat (tuna and chicken) for the BFHs. At least this morning the BFHs were grabbing some of the yellowjackets and making off with them. There are lots of bees at the entrance apparently on guard duty. Bees carrying in pollen are coming and going–though it seems their pollen baskets aren’t as stuffed as they were a few days ago and the pollen whitish-greenish!
A few yellowjackets have made it into my homemade traps, but so far no BFHs.
Still sticky
Perhaps this should be titled sequelae to stickiness sequelae. . . .and for all my friends who are grammarians, I used sequelae intentionally, to refer not to this sequela to the previous post, but to the myriad, multiple, bucketful, and gobs of effects stemming from that one event of a leaky syrup container.
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On hive check this morning, it looks like normal activity at the entrance. No “invaders” hanging around the entrance for the time that I was watching–just “my girls” coming and going on the landing board.
I have traps out for yellowjackets and for bald-faced hornets. Looks as if a few yellowjackets have been lured into the trap.
Unfortunately, there are still yellowjackets clustered on the lower right cement block that is supporting the hive.
I suspect that 
was were most of the sugar syrup flowed down. That rather porous material is probably saturated with sweetness! They see to be preferring that to the trap with Coco-Cola in it. More concentrated sweetness (I hope). Maybe when that’s all been slurped out they will like the trap better.
I’m contemplating how to be sure that my pail feeders are not leaking, although when I check the inner cover and the empty super covering the feeders this morning there doesn’t seem to be wetness that would suggest feeder leak that would be dripping through the hive. I guess time will tell.
Stickiness sequelae
And in our continuing beekeeping saga is the sequel to stickiness. . . .still sticky!
The hive is fighting off invaders after the syrup spill. I’d been hoping for rain, but that didn’t happen, so it was out there with the hose making like a rain goddess. All sorts of unfriendly creatures: bald-faced hornets and paper wasps I could identify without problems. Then there were (at least I hope I’ve gotten rid of some of them) others that are as yet unidentified (even with the Audubon guide). I’ve yet to do an internet search.
I think that others are yellow jackets–at least they were busy enough with the sugar syrup (dried on the hive) to mostly ignore me. The honey bees do have a fight on their hands right now, though it was looking much better after the second time I washed down the hive. This is incredibly frustrating–I changed the style of feeder to avoid this exact thing, and then to have 
even more syrup dumped onto the front of the hive and into the hive! (I’m not sure what I’ll do with the feeder that did the dump–maybe take it to the beekeepers meeting and see if anyone who already uses and likes it, wants it–I don’t think that I’ll try it again!
At left is one of my girls with one of the invaders. I really didn’t hang around to try to take pictures–I was busy with the hose. And some of the yellow jackets were just a bit PO’d about getting rained on.
These girls have really been slurping down the syrup, so I had to add more. I went to the bee supply and got a second pail so that I didn’t have to keep the super where the feeder lives open long with all this activity of the invaders. I guess drawing all the comb and defending the hive takes a lot of energy. I’ve been reading some statistics on how far a honey bee will travel, and how many flowers she must visit to make a pound of honey, and how fast they can zip for flower to flower. Amazing creatures.
Ò¥Ó
I’ve just been out to the hive to take another look around. The girls are patrolling, but the entrance with the guards is quiet. Still a couple paper wasps around, but not on the hive or near the entrance. I really didn’t need this actual experience of what a mess spilled syrup makes–I’m going to be taking a lot of precautions to see that it doesn’t happen again! I know it was stressful for the bees, but it was stressful, and distressing for me too! I’ve noted that even with all this going on they were still quite gentle with me–I didn’t put on protective gear to work around the hive or to change the feeder. I think that they must have held their own pretty well since there were more of the opposition dead that my honey bees.
Since I put on the new box and frames last Friday, I may be looking in to see how things are going this coming Friday, depending on the weather.
And, to end–here is the nice quiet hive entrance after the washing down. That’s just normal coming and going.
a-single-serving.com 