Whole roasted garlic heads

Costco had 5 pounds of garlic on sale for something ridiculous like $3.99, so I bought it! And I've been making a bunch of garlic-heavy recipes ever since, including this one which was great and so easy it almost doesn't need a recipe. Except it does because I will forget the temperature.

Whole roasted Garlic

From Delish

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Slice off top of the head of garlic. Drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Wrap in foil and place in a shallow dish. 
2. Roast until golden and soft, 40 minutes. Let cool then squeeze out garlic cloves and use on everything.

Best tomato sauce for Pasta

 Mahesh said this recipe is from a nice restaurant in New York City that he always wanted to go to but never had a chance to go to. SO, I tried making the red sauce here at home. It is easy, fast, and turned out very well. Although 2/3 cup of oil is so much!! I will try half the oil next time. 

Best Tomato Sauce for Pasta

by Lilia Chef Missy Robbins, via Bloomberg

Ingredients

2/3 cup olive oil (I will try 1/3 cup next time)
20 garlic cloves (about 1½ heads of garlic), peeled 

Two 28-oz. cans of whole peeled tomatoes, preferably San Marzano
1 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tsp crushed red chile flakes (I left this out bc kids)
2 basil sprigs
Kosher salt
1 lb. dried pasta (Robbins prefers short shapes, like rigatoni)

 Directions

In a large, heavy saucepan, warm the olive oil over moderately low heat. Add the garlic cloves, and gently simmer until softened and just beginning to caramelize, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, drain the canned tomatoes in a colander. Transfer the tomatoes and any purée in the colander into a food processor and pulse two or three times until the tomatoes are very roughly chopped. (Tester’s note: If you like using your hands, squeeze the tomatoes to break them up into large chunks.)

Using a fork or the back of a spoon, crush half the garlic cloves in the oil; leave the remaining cloves whole. Add the tomatoes, fennel, and chile flakes to the saucepan and simmer over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is slightly thickened, about 20 minutes. Add the basil, season well with salt, and simmer for about five more minutes, until the sauce is richly flavored.

Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling water, cook the pasta until just al dente. Drain, reserving some of the pasta cooking liquid. Cook the pasta in about 2 cups of the sauce, basting the pasta, until al dente; add a little pasta cooking water if necessary. Refrigerate or freeze the remaining sauce for another use.

NOTE: The kids would probably prefer a fully blended sauce next time, but they did eat this. 

 

Eggplant Balls

Whenever I make Spaghetti I always want to make some kind of an eggplant meatball to make it a bit healthier and add variety. The other recipe I have made for years no one likes, so I tried a new one this time -- and it was received much better. One of my favorite tricks for maximum yum in vegetarian food is to deveganize a vegan recipe, that is what I did here. 

Eggplant meatballs

From My Darling Vegan

Ingredients

• 1 large eggplant
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used Panko)
  
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley (I didn't have this so didn't use)
• 2 tbsp fresh basil (I didn't have this so didn't use)
  
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
  
• 1 1/2 tbsp Italian Seasoning
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• pepper, to taste

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
• Chop the eggplant into 1" pieces. Heat olive oil over medium heat and add eggplant along with 1/4 cups water. Sauté for 10 minutes until eggplant is slightly brown and tender all throughout.
  
• While the eggplant is cooking, put garlic, herbs, spices, parmesan cheese, and egg into food processor and process until blended up and mixed well. When eggplant is cooked, add eggplant and breadcrumbs to the food processor and pulse until you have a uniform batter. Be careful not to overprocess or the meatballs will become gummy. Some texture is desirable. Taste and adjust seasonings.
• Roll the meatball mixture into balls 2 heaping tablespoons in size and place on the prepared parchment paper. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until meatballs are browned and crispy on the outside. This is good but alternatively you may want to try frying them in a pan with oil. 
• When the meatballs are done, add them to a saucepot with marinara sauce until the marinara sauce is heated all the way through. Toss with cooked spaghetti or zucchini noodles and serve with fresh parsley and extra parmesan.

The Most Wonderful Gingerbread Cookies

This gingerbread cookie recipe is great, not too spicy and nice and soft if you bake for 7 minutes. We are not big fans of gingerbread cookies but we liked these. 

THE MOST WONDERFUL GINGERBREAD COOKIES

From Food.com

        INGREDIENTS

•  3 cups all-purpose flour
•  1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons baking powder
• ³⁄₄ teaspoon baking soda
• ¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 ³⁄₄ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ¹⁄₄ teaspoon ground cloves
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter - I just used salted butter and omitted the salt
  
• ³⁄₄ cup dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• ¹⁄₂ cup molasses
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional) - I didn't use this
  

    

  DIRECTIONS

  • In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves until well blended.
  • In a large bowl (KitchenAid's great for this) beat butter, brown sugar, and egg on medium speed until well blended.
  • Add molasses, vanilla, and lemon zest and continue to mix until well blended.
  • Gradually stir in dry ingredients until blended and smooth.
  • Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic and let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours.
  • Preheat oven to 375 deg. Prepare baking sheets by lining with parchment paper.
  • (Dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, but in this case it should be refrigerated. Return to room temp before using.) Preheat oven to 375°.
  • Grease or line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  • Place 1 portion of the dough on a lightly floured surface.
  • Sprinkle flour over dough and rolling pin.
  • Roll dough to a scant 1/4-inch thick.
  • Use additional flour to avoid sticking.
  • Cut out cookies with desired cutter-- the ginger bread man is our favorite of course.
  • Space cookies 1 1/2-inches apart.
  • Bake 1 sheet at a time for 7-10 minutes (the lower time will give you softer cookies-- very good!).
  • Remove cookie sheet from oven and allow the cookies to stand until the cookies are firm enough to move to a wire rack.
  • After cookies are cool you may decorate them any way you like.
  • I usually brush them with a powdered sugar glaze when I am in a hurry, but they look wonderful decorated with Royal icing.

   

Birthday Cake

 I have made this cake several times and each time I make the frosting as written, which is WAY TOO SWEET. I am blogging it here so I can try something different next time. OR it would be even better to try a different kind of buttercream entirely.

Classic Birthday Cake

from livforcake

Ingredients

Yellow Cake:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs room temperature
• 2 tsp clear vanilla extract (apparently this makes the cake taste more like box mix, I use regular vanilla and it is fine)
  
• 1 cup whole milk room temperature

Chocolate Frosting:

• 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar sifted
• 1/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder sifted
• 3oz good quality semi-sweet chocolate chopped, melted, cooled

Instructions

Vanilla Cake:

• Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour two 8" cake rounds and line with parchment.
• In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt until well combined. Set aside.
• Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on med-high until pale and fluffy (approx 3mins). Reduce speed and add eggs one at a time fully incorporating after each addition. Add vanilla.
• Alternate adding flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with flour (3 additions of flour and 2 of milk). Fully incorporating after each addition.
• Bake for 35-40mins or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean. (for 9 inch rounds, it took approx. 25-30 mins to bake)
  
• Place cakes on wire rack to cool for 10mins then turn out onto wire rack.

Chocolate Frosting

• In a large bowl, whisk sifted powdered sugar and cocoa powder to combine. Set aside.
• Beat butter until smooth and creamy. Add powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, beating well between each addition. Beat until smooth (approx 5mins).
• Add in cooled melted chocolate and beat until combined.

Assembly:

• Place one layer of cake on a cake stand or serving plate. Top with approximately 1 cup of buttercream. Repeat with remaining layer and crumb coat the cake. Chill for 20mins.
• Frost the top and sides of the cake in a rustic manner using an offset spatula.
• Decorate the top with sprinkles and decorative flags if desired.

Waffles

 I got a new waffle maker! We have tried a total of 2 waffle batters, predictably, we prefer the one called "All-American Waffles."

All-American Waffles

From a photo from a book my mom sent me

Ingredients:

2 eggs, separated, room temperature

1 3/4 cups milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 3/4 cups flour

2 T. sugar

4 t. baking powder

1 t. salt (I did not add this)

Beat egg yolks, stir in milk and oil. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt (if using). Stir only until large lumps disappear. Beat egg whites until stiff and gently fold into batter.

Overnight cinnamon buns

Making homemade cinnamon buns from scratch is way easier than I thought it would be, although it does take a lot of passive time for the dough to rise, etc. Prepping these buns the night before so you can have them in the morning is genius.

Here is the recipe:

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/overnight-cinnamon-rolls-recipe-2014250

A few notes:

-- Make sure to dissolve the yeast in a little water before adding to the dough.
-- I didn't use the final 3/4 cup of flour at all.
-- I added 1/2 cup (maybe 3/4 cup?) of chopped walnuts to the brown sugar mixture and it was great! 
-- Don't dump all the frosting on the buns, just drizzle a little and serve the rest on the side since they are quite sweet!
-- Make sure the buns are in the middle of the oven when you cook them, mine were too close to the top and the top of the buns got a little too brown

I gave this interesting-sounding pasta a shot, and it was a surprise hit, especially considering the sauce is mostly cauliflower! The kids liked it too. I will definitely make again, with a few adjustments.

From Food 52/Andy Bennett

Creamy Cauliflower Pasta Carbonara

Ingredients:

Pasta Carbonara

• 1 tablespoon (12g) olive oil
• 1 cup (100g) sliced spring onions or green onions
• 2 tablespoons (20g) roughly chopped garlic
• 1 cup (200g) Creamy Cauliflower Sauce (from below)
• 2 cups dried pasta, (250g) cooked al dente pasta (from about 125g dry pasta—for the rigatoni we used, this was about 2 cups dry pasta)
• ²/₃ cup (90g) fresh or frozen green peas, cooked in salted water
• ¹/₂ cup Scant, (10g) chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 6 tablespoons (12g) finely grated Parmesan
• Smoked sea salt, to taste (optional)
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon (4g) toasted breadcrumbs, or more to taste

Creamy Cauliflower Sauce

• 2 cups (200g) cauliflower florets (in roughly 1/2-inch pieces)
• 2 ¹/₄ cups (500g) vegetable stock or broth
• ¹/₂ cup (100g) neutral oil such as canola
• Salt to taste

Directions:

Pasta Carbonara:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the spring onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until the onions and garlic are turning light golden. Add the sauce, pasta, and peas and heat everything through, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes.
2. Once hot, stir in the cheese and parsley, season with smoked salt and black pepper to taste and place in a serving bowl. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and serve immediately. 

 Creamy Cauliflower Sauce:

1. In a medium saucepan, cover the cauliflower with vegetable stock and simmer, partially covered, until really tender, about 20 minutes. Blend the cauliflower and stock till smooth with a blender or hand blender. While the blender is running, slowly pour in olive oil to emulsify.
2. Store any leftovers airtight in the refrigerator and use as a creamy sauce, warm or cold.

 

Minestrone Soup

I have been looking for a good Minestrone recipe. Finally I tried this knockoff of Olive Garden soup and it turned out great even though I did a lot of substitutions. The kids liked it!

From this blog

Olive Garden Minestrone Soup

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3/4 cup onion diced
• 1/2 cup celery sliced
• 1/2 cup carrots peeled, quartered and sliced
• 1 zucchini halved and sliced (I didn't have this so omitted)
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes (my kid asked for smaller chunks, maybe try cut up tomatoes or crushed next time)
• 4 cups vegetable broth (I would up this to 6 cups next time)
• 1/4 cup tomato paste (I used 2 T. concentrate, would increase with more water)
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1 15 ounce can small white beans drained and rinsed (Instead of this I used an equivalent amount of fresh cooked garbanzo beans because we had some on hand)
• 1 15 ounce can kidney beans drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup frozen cut green beans
• 1/2 cup small shell pasta (if soup is to be eaten later, it would be better to cook pasta seperately and add as it is served)
• 2 cups baby spinach leaves (I substituted 1 cup cut up cabbage for this, earlier in the cooking)
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Instructions

• Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the onion, celery, carrots and zucchini to the pot.
• Cook until the vegetables are tender, 3-5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper to taste.
• Add the tomatoes, vegetable broth, tomato paste and Italian seasoning to the pot. Bring to a simmer.
• Add the white beans, kidney beans, green beans and pasta to the pot. Simmer for 10-15 minutes or until pasta and vegetables are tender.
• Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the spinach leaves and cook for 2-3 minutes or until wilted.
• Sprinkle the parsley over the soup and serve.

Alton Brown's Blueberry Buckle

I saw a post that said this recipe was Alton Brown's best recipe ever. As a lover of superlatives, I had to try it. Everyone here raved about it! I might even try buying cake flour to try that with it next time! This time I used 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour and 1/4 cornstarch mixed together as a substitute and it came out well.

Blueberry Buckle

From Alton Brown

FOR THE TOPPING

• 3 1/2 ounces sugar
• 1 1/2 ounces cake flour
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated)
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (cubed and chilled)

FOR THE CAKE

• 9 ounces cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (left at room temperature for 30 minutes (or until instant-read thermometer stuck into the middle reads about 60 degrees F))
• 5 1/4 ounces sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 15 ounces fresh blueberries

MAKE THE TOPPING

1. Combine the sugar, flour and nutmeg in a small bowl then work in the butter, using a fork to combine. Keep “forking” until the mixture has a crumb-like texture. Set aside. (Note: If you have a pastry cutter, now’s the time to use it.)

MAKE THE CAKE

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch square GLASS baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and ginger together in a medium bowl and set aside.
3. Beat together the butter and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium speed until light and fluffy, approximately 1 minute. Reduce the speed a bit and thoroughly incorporate the egg. Reduce the speed to low (or “stir” on a Kitchenaid) and add one-third of the flour mixture. Once incorporated, add one-third of the milk then repeat alternating until all ingredients are combined.
4. Gently stir in the blueberries and pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish and sprinkle on the topping mixture.
5. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 45 minutes, or until golden. Cool for 30 minutes before serving.

Makes: 1 (9-inch) Cake

Ottolenghi and Tami's baby spinach salad with Dates and Almonds

This salad came highly recommended and it uses many things we already have, plus we had some leftover pita to use up. It is good! Worth even purchasing pita bread for!

Ottolenghi and Tami's baby spinach salad with Dates and Almonds

From Ottolenghi

Ingredients

1 tablespoon wine vinegar

1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced

3 1/2 ounces dates (100 grams), preferably Medjool, pitted and quartered lengthwise (add more if you're so inclined)

Salt

2 tablespoons unsalted butter (30 grams)

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

2 small pitas (about 3 1/2 ounces, or 100 grams), roughly torn into 1 1/2 -inch pieces

1/2 cup whole unsalted almonds (75 grams), coarsely chopped (I used slivered almonds and added them to the pan with the pita for about 1 minute.)

2 teaspoons sumac

1/2 teaspoon chile flakes

5 to 6 ounces baby spinach leaves (150 grams) (I substituted arugula for this and it was good)

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

 

Preparation

•      Put vinegar, onion and dates in a small bowl. Add a pinch of salt and mix well with your hands. Leave to marinate for 20 minutes, then drain any residual vinegar and discard. (It didn't have any residual liquid.)


•     Meanwhile, heat butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Add pita and cook for 4 to 6 minutes, stirring all the time, until pita is golden. Add almonds and continue cooking until pita is crunchy and browned and almonds are toasted and fragrant, about 2 minutes more. Remove from heat and mix in sumac, chile flakes and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Set aside to cool.
•     When ready to serve, toss spinach leaves with pita mix in a large mixing bowl. Add dates and red onion, remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, the lemon juice and another pinch of salt. Taste for seasoning and serve immediately.

 

Sugar Cookies

We made these for Easter and they were pretty good, I made sure to leave them thick and they stayed soft in the middle. I didn't have meringue powder and don't like to use raw eggs in royal icing so I just mixed powdered sugar and water together and we iced the cookies with that.


Sugar Cookies

From A Touch of Thyme

Ingredients:

For the sugar cookie:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour

For the icing:

- Powdered Sugar and Water

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together using an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla.
2. Turn the mixer to low and add the baking powder and salt. Gradually add the flour and mix until combined.
3. Form dough into a ball and wrap dough tightly in plastic cling wrap and freeze for 30 minutes or refrigerate until firm (at least 1 hour or overnight).
4. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line the cookie sheet with parchment paper.
5. Remove dough from fridge and let it stand for 5-10 minutes.
6. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to about ¼-inch thick. Cut out shapes using egg-shaped cookie cutters.
7. Transfer your cookies onto the cookie sheet, placing them 1 inch apart.
8. Re-roll scraps and repeat.
9. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes depending on thickness. Let it cool for 1 minute on the pan and then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Minestrone Soup

Like most people, I have been doing a lot more cooking than usual and our regular recipes have become tiresome. So I have started making new ones. This minestrone soup is pretty good! Just make sure the soup is otherwise done before adding in the pasta as it is better not overcooked.

Minestrone Soup

From Food Network

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 large onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 large carrot, diced

1/3 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

1 28-ounce can no-salt-added diced tomatoes

1 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes

6 cups low-sodium chicken broth (I used water and 2-3 t. of veggie bullion for this)

1 15-ounce can low-sodium kidney beans, drained and rinsed (I used white beans)

1 cup elbow pasta

1/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese (I forgot to add this in)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil (I did not have this so omitted it)

Instructions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds. Add the celery and carrot and cook until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in the green beans, dried oregano and basil, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste; cook 3 more minutes.  
2. Add the diced and crushed tomatoes and the broth or water to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer 10 minutes or until veggies are almost tender and tomatoes seem cooked enough. Stir in the beans and pasta and cook until the pasta and vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Season with salt. Ladle into bowls and top with the parmesan and chopped basil.

Hakka Noodles

This is an Indo-Chinese dish we have enjoyed from time to time when visiting India. I tried to make it last night, I didn't have the right noodles, and also didn't get the frying right. When we've had it in restaurants, even the noodles were stir fried with a bit of black on them. Anyway it was OK and fairly easy to make, Mahesh liked it and the kids ate some.

Vegetable Hakka Noodless

From Cook with Manali

Ingredients

• 300 grams noodles -- I will look in the India store to find "Ching Hakka" noodles as the recipe requires, if I can't find those I might try to substitute angel hair pasta.
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon minced ginger
• 1 green chili, sliced
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 medium red onion, 100 grams, sliced
• 1 large carrot, 100 grams, sliced
• 1 large red pepper, 200 grams, sliced, can use mix of green and red
• 3 stalks green onion, chopped + more to garnish
• 2.5 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, or white vinegar
• 1 teapoon hot sauce, like sriracha
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar, optional
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• pinch white pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon chili oil, optional 
•  
• INSTRUCTIONS:
• 1. Chop all the veggies before you start making the noodles.
  2. Boil the noodles according to instructions on the package. I was supposed to cook my noodles for 2 minutes only.
     
     
  3. Drain the noodles and wash under cold running water, this stops the cooking process. Add 1/2 tablespoon of vegetable oil to the noodles and toss so that the noodles get lightly coated with the oil and don’t stick to each other. Set it aside.
     
     
  4. In a wok heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and 1 tablespoon sesame oil on medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot add the minced garlic and ginger, sliced green chili and chopped celery.
     
     
  5. Saute for few seconds until the ginger garlic starts to change color.
  6. Add sliced onions and saute for a minute or two until the sides of the onion starts turning light golden brown.
     
     
  7. Add in the sliced carrots, bell pepper, green onion and cook for 1 minute on high heat. The veggies should remain crunchy.
     
     
  8. Push veggies to the side, lower the heat and add soy sauce, rice vinegar, hot sauce (like sriracha) and sugar (if using).
     
     
  9. Toss the veggies to combine well with the sauce. Add in the black pepper, salt and white pepper.
  10. Stir in the boiled noodles. Using a pair of tongs, mix it well so that the noodles are well coated with the sauce.
      
      
  11. As a final touch, stir in a teaspoon of chili oil. This is totally optional. Toss the noodles well and garnish with more spring onion greens.
  12. Serve hakka noodles as such or with your favorite Indo chinese dishes! I love mine with chili paneer.
   

Ratatouille

This is a very good recipe!! But greasy. And it took a long time to cook. It was the first time I made ratatouille, I have barely even eaten it in the past. But we saw the movie and I wanted to try making it. I served it on pasta and all the kids ate it and liked it OK. I saw many other recipes online that were healthier but I wanted to make sure and make one the kids will eat for the first time. Next time I will try and cut back on oil and see how that goes.

Ratatouille

From the New York Times

Ingredients

• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 medium white onions
• 3 medium zucchini
• 2 medium eggplant
• 3 sweet red peppers, such as bell peppers, red cubanelle or any other sweet variety
• 3 sprigs fresh rosemary (I used dried and fresh would have been better)
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 cup olive oil, more as needed
• 2 large heirloom or beefsteak tomatoes (I used a can of whole tomatoes and it worked fine)
• 2 small bay leaves, ripped in half
• 1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt, more as needed
• Freshly ground black pepper 

Preparation

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Prepare the vegetables: Smash and peel 3 garlic cloves, reserving the 4th. Halve onions through their roots, and slice halves into 1/4-inch-thick pieces. Slice zucchini into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Cut eggplant into 1-inch cubes or spears. Seed peppers, and cut them into 1/4-inch-thick strips.
3. Spread each vegetable on a separate rimmed baking sheet (use extra sheets as necessary). Add the 3 cloves of smashed garlic to the onion pan. Add 1 sprig rosemary and 2 sprigs thyme to each of the pepper, eggplant and zucchini pans. Sprinkle salt lightly over vegetables. Drizzle 3 tablespoons olive oil on each of the pans.
4. Place all the pans in the oven (or work in batches if they don’t fit at once). Cook until vegetables are very tender and lightly browned at the edges. This will take about 35 to 40 minutes for the peppers (their skins should shrivel), 40 to 45 minutes for the eggplant and zucchini (the eggplant should crisp slightly and the zucchini should be well cooked, so let them go 3 to 5 minutes longer than you normally might), and 60 to 65 minutes for the onions. Don’t worry about the vegetables being pretty; they will meld into the ratatouille. Shake or stir the pans every 15 to 20 minutes or so, especially the onions.
5. In the meantime, prepare the tomatoes: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add tomatoes and blanch until the skins split, about 10 seconds. Use a slotted spoon to quickly transfer the tomatoes to a bowl filled with ice water.
6. Using a paring knife, peel the cooled tomatoes (the skins should slip right off). Halve tomatoes across their equators. Set a sieve over a bowl. Working over the bowl, use your fingers to seed the tomatoes, letting the seeds catch in the sieve and the juice run into the bowl. Discard seeds but save juices. Dice tomatoes and add to the reserved juices in bowl.
7. Finely grate or mince remaining garlic clove. Add garlic to tomatoes along with bay leaves and a large pinch of salt. Set aside.
8. Once vegetables are done cooking, combine them on one baking sheet or a large shallow baking dish and add ingredients from tomato bowl. Toss well. Vegetables will be stacked, and that’s O.K. Cover generously with olive oil, using remaining ¼ cup oil or more, and sprinkle with salt. Everything should have a good coat of oil, but should not be drowning in it. Cook at least 1 hour, stirring every 15 to 20 minutes, until vegetables are very tender and imbued with juices and oil. Add salt and pepper to taste, then serve warm, or let cool.