Thursday, August 16, 2012

Slow Cooker Ratatouille

We needed to go to Walbaums and the way home we stopped at Betty's to pick up peppers and an eggplant for the ratatouille.

                              This is going to make two meals.
I'm so happy to be back on TOHBB  and saw a recipe Janie posted and knew I would making it the next day.

2 small onions,thinly sliced
2 med. eggplant,skin on and diced

2 large red and green peppers, seeded and diced                 
6 plum tomatoes,quartered ( I used regular tomatoes)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes ( didn't measure-eyeballed it)
1 tsp. salt
6 oz can of tomato paste
handful of fresh parsley and basil chopped( forgot to get basil)
salt and pepper to taste

Layer the ingredients through 1 tsp.salt in your crockpot in the order listed. Dot with tomato paste on top. ( my tomato paste had the garlic and red pepper flakes mixed in). Cook and cover on high for 3-4 hours.Remove lid, stir to combine. Add fresh parsley and basil, adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.
Serve .




I didn't want to take a photo of it in the crockpot since the crock is black. This might entice you to make it. You won't be disappointed!How can you not like a recipe that is so easy and good!

Janie from TOHBB wrote this review. It was on the recipe when I found it. If you make this recipe you might want to read some of her tweaks.

 I don't trust my slow cooker at all so I made this one on top of the stove on a very low heat setting ~ It was wonderful to smell it as it cooked down and frequent peeks revealed the slow burps of one beautiful mixture gently simmering~ aside from being a real beauty the taste is so fresh , yet rich and very bold ~ I set it up a little differently as I really wanted all of the flavors to mingle and pass on some of their great juices down onto the bottom layer ~ Much like a chain reaction. All the way down to the bottom layer ~

I did all of the prep work first, by slicing and chopping up all of the veggies. Each in their own little pile ~ Once that was completed I started to layer. onions, red pepper, green pepper, eggplant and garlic and tomatoes. I also added a small drizzle of olive oil in the middle ` I made 3 layers~ and only peeked after an hour an an 1/2 ~ With the back of a wooden spoon I gently pushed down on the top of the veggies. After 3 hours some juice started to build up so now I lightly pushed the tomato paste down into the mixture as well. No stirring. Just gently push down on the top layer. After 4 hours I removed the lid as now quite a bit of liquid has gathered . A low simmer uncovered for abotu 15 minutes took care of that and the end result is a thick geogerous Tomato Based Fresh Vegtable Spread~ While Tomato and Garlic Bruschetta's are delicious ~ This one has to be perfect for the Summer ~ another reason to plant a Garden ~   Janie ~ I served it on baked Low Crab Tortillas ~ cut into bite sized pieces ~ I also gave our small sampling dish a light drizzle on top with some olive oil before serving ~ Just be sure to reseason and I like to add a little more minced garlic towards the end of the cooking process.

 
 







3 comments:

  1. this looks so good. going to pass this one on to my daughter.

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  2. I love eggplant and better yet, cooking with my crock pot. I know I won't be disappointed with this recipe... if it passes the Divingabe's Honey test, it has to be delicious!!! Any of your recipes that I've made have been fantastic. Thanks for sharing. ~Aurora

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  3. Hi Linda, I am so happy that You and Hubby enjoyed this Recipe. It's full of heart healthy veggies and the taste is wonderful. Even stove top it only requires "One Pot". And the next day it's even better.

    It so reminds me of the Mediterranean.


    Thanks for trying one of my favorite recipes.

    Janie

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