Ratatouille, a rustic French dish made with summer vegetables, delivers vibrant, fresh flavors to your dinner table. During a weekend getaway to Santa Ynez with longtime friends, whom I had known since the 60’s, I discovered the trick to making delicious ratatouille.

After a long day of wine tasting, we made a quick stop at Los Olivos Grocery, a local artisan grommet grocery store, and stocked up for dinner. Once settled in our vacation rental, we began preparations for dinner. Linda Erskine recruited us to roughly chop the vegetables and explained the importance of layering the ingredients as she started cooking the onions and bell peppers. She slowly added the ingredients, filling the house with delicious smells.

This recipe is from Laurel’s Kitchen, a cookbook that popularized vegetarian dishes in the mid 70’s. When I think about vegetarian dishes, it always reminds me of the 60’s. Ratatouille seems like the perfect nod to this group of friends, whose personalities are so layered and are influenced by the civil rights movement, anti-Vietnam protests, living in a neighborhood behind UCR, and eating a lot of health food.

Recipe from Laurel’s Kitchen – Serves 6

Ingredients

• 1          Onion (large)
• 1          Red bell pepper
• 1          Eggplant (large)
• 2          Zucchinis (medium)
• 3          Tomatoes, chopped
• ¼ C       Olive oil
• 1 t        Salt
• 1/8 t    pepper
• ½ t       Dried basil
• ½ t       Dried Oregano
• ½         Garlic clove, minced

Directions

• Peel and dice eggplant into 1” cubes.
• Slice zucchini to ½” rounds.
• Chop onion coarsely and cut bell pepper into 1” squares.
• Using a heavy bottom sauce pan with a lid, add olive oil to pan and heat to medium low.
• Add the onions and bell pepper and sauté until they are soft. Onions should be translucent.
• Add garlic and cook until it is fragrant. About 30 seconds.
• Stir in eggplant and sauté about 5 minutes more. Eggplant will begin to soften.
• Add tomatoes and seasonings.
• Cover and simmer on low gently for about 25 minutes.
• Add zucchini (recover with lid) and cook for 5 additional minutes.
• Uncover and turn up heat to medium high and evaporate liquid for approximately 3 – 5 minutes.