Cooking Praxis I:
Exploring organic, local, and wild edibles
For our first culinary challenge, we decided to step out of our comfort zone and selected a dish that we had never considered attempting. With our local farms in mind, we chose a warm summer vegetable dish named ratatouille. Originating from the area surrounding Nice and Provence, France, ratatouille is an oven-roasted stew of summer squashes, garlic, onion, and tomatoes. We explored many different recipes and found that almost anything can be added to this dish for a slightly different take! We chose to follow the traditional French route, knowing that we could get almost all of the major ingredients locally.
We started by gathering a few organic, fresh herbs from our front yard. Though our basil plant has recently suffered through a few cold nights, we were able to pick plenty of healthy leaves for our recipe to add to our tiny harvest of rosemary and chives.
Hoping to add a 'wild' component to our ratatouille, we decided to try foraging for some ingredients that would be completely new to us. A friend of ours sometimes collects wild leeks (also known as ramps) from the woods surrounding the "Frolf" course on campus in the spring and summer. We figured this might be a good place to take a look around!
Hoping to add a 'wild' component to our ratatouille, we decided to try foraging for some ingredients that would be completely new to us. A friend of ours sometimes collects wild leeks (also known as ramps) from the woods surrounding the "Frolf" course on campus in the spring and summer. We figured this might be a good place to take a look around!
We searched for tender, leafy wild leeks along the stream bed and in damp, sandy soil. However, as we soon discovered, our foraging instincts are pretty underdeveloped. We found a toad, but nothing else that seemed edible or safe. It wasn't long before we broke out the iPhone in need of help, only to discover that ramps don't often survive til the end of summer. All the same, it was a nice escape to take a walk through the woods on one of the last warm days of September.
Armed with fierce appetites, we left campus empty handed but eager to get in the kitchen. JP had already bought most of the veggies we needed for our ratatouille (pictured at the top of the page) at the Lyndonville Farmers' Market on Friday, so we made very minimal purchases from the grocery store.
We noted that the only vegetable bought from the White Market was different from the rest. The yellow squash from who-knows-where was unnaturally bright, firm and totally unblemished - in other words, it was obvious that it was not grown in the same fashion as our organic veggies. The garlic was also different from store-bought garlic; much like the one we used in class, it was smaller and stained purple.
Using a fairly simple recipe, we started our ratatouille by cutting our squashes, eggplant and peppers into chunks and thin slices. Next we laid out all the veggies on paper towels and sprinkled them with salt to draw out some of the excess water (this easy trick prevents a mushy, runny dish). We then divided the chunks and slices and placed them on roasting pans, adding onion, garlic, rosemary and chives to the melange of vegetables. All pans received a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper before going into a 375 degree oven for for roasting.
After 30 minutes in the oven, we moved our veggies from roasting pans into a deeper casserole dish; we threw all the larger chunks in the bottom and layered the slices on top for decoration.
Next we poured our sauce over the gently roasted veggies. A basic ratatouille sauce includes tomatoes and herbs, but we added some of our favorite red wine for sweetness. Finally, we topped our dish with panko crumbs and placed it back in the oven.
Next we poured our sauce over the gently roasted veggies. A basic ratatouille sauce includes tomatoes and herbs, but we added some of our favorite red wine for sweetness. Finally, we topped our dish with panko crumbs and placed it back in the oven.
20 minutes later, our kitchen was full of incredible smells and our ratatouille was ready to eat! It was gratifying to pull such a beautiful dish from the oven. We waited just long enough to slice up some flatbread before serving our guests and ourselves. Paired with some more red wine, this dish was savory, sweet and very warming. It was really nice to indulge in a healthy meal - even nicer that we knew exactly where most of our ingredients came from! We would definitely try making this dish again.
Thank you for checking out our first "food lab" for our class! We hope you will come again soon for new pictures, recipes and culinary adventures!
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Ingredients for Ratatouille:
1 medium eggplant
1 large zucchini
1 yellow summer squash
1 red onion
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
4 cloves garlic
fresh basil
fresh rosemary
fresh chives
extra virgin olive oil
salt&pepper
1 large tomato
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
1 cup red wine
crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup panko crumbs
melted butter
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Ingredients for Ratatouille:
1 medium eggplant
1 large zucchini
1 yellow summer squash
1 red onion
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
4 cloves garlic
fresh basil
fresh rosemary
fresh chives
extra virgin olive oil
salt&pepper
1 large tomato
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
1 cup red wine
crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup panko crumbs
melted butter