Grilled Ratatouille

It is that time of year again. The time which some greet with excitement and as a sign of summer abundance. The time which anyone who has a garden or anyone who knows someone who has a garden or anyone who has left their car unlocked or doorstep unguarded at this time of year is all too familiar with. It is zucchini(courgette) time.

People here in Nova Scotia say it is the only time of year people lock their doors here. Guarding against the product of the glut that even one prolific plant can provide. Everyone seems to have about fourteen recipes to deal with the stuff in all its forms - long or round, forest green to speckled pale, almost blue green to bright yellow - yes, I lump summer squash in here too.

Eggplants (aubergines) are starting here as well, shiny and jewel-coloured. So, in combination with the zucchini, it kind of shouts out ratatouille. But, ratatouille? Yawn, yawn, yawn. 

I think ratatouille is great but it isn’t very exciting, is it? I have spent many a month in the south of France looking at various renditions of the stuff on every menu. None of them bad, but few of them jumping up and screaming, ‘Eat me!’ Consequently, my mission was to revitalize the ratatouille concept for, well, for my family, I guess.

The days are still hot here and, as I far as I am concerned, it is never too late for another salad days recipe. This one is great hot or warm or cold. It travels well and is easy to eat with just a fork so ticks the ‘great for a picnic’ box as well. 

It is great on its own, with a hunk of feta and some olives and fresh bread but serves as a worthy side dish to any grilled meat or fish. Stephen and the girls had some grilled chicken with theirs’ and, at least in the girls’ case, the ratatouille disappeared first. I faintly recall Stephen declaring that it ‘wasn’t bad for aubergine’. I felt like I had done my job. 

‘Ratatouille renovated?’ 

‘Check.’  

I used garlic scape pesto in this but a clove of minced garlic would be just fine. The dressing uses the remaining mixture that you brush the vegetables with before grilling. 

I contemplated tomato for this. Had they been ready, as in ripe, I may have tried grilling some with the rest of the vegetables but, they weren’t. I then considered dicing some and adding to all the vegetables after grilling but we were eating this warm the first time around and I had a vision of tomato mush gluing the whole lot together. I did add some to the cold leftovers and it was a really good cooked/fresh contrast. So, if you are going to have this cold or when you re-purpose it, I would throw in a handful of chopped fresh tomatoes. I used some halved cherry tomatoes which I rescued from Poppy, who was about two-thirds of the way through the entire pint. 

I used summer squash here but any zucchini, summer, patty pan, etc. squash would do just fine. I also used some fennel fronds, because I have some growing but these are easily omitted.

Grilled Ratatouille

1 large eggplant (aubergine) sliced lengthwise in 1cm(ish) slices

3 medium summer squash sliced in half lengthwise

6 scallions (spring onions)

1 medium red onion sliced into 1cm rounds

2 red peppers tops, bottoms and seeds removed

Marinade

1/8 cup garlic scape pesto

1/8 cup olive oil

Dressing

1 tablespoon marinade from above

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon salt

Handful of chopped flat leaf parsley and fennel fronds (if you have fennel to hand)

Brush eggplant and zucchini slices with the marinade. Let sit while preparing other vegetables and heating the barbecue.

Grill over medium heat and in batches, if necessary, all of the vegetables until they are nicely marked and just cooked through. None should take more than a couple of minutes on each side. Remove from the barbecue.

Chop all of the grilled vegetables into bite-sized pieces and put in a mixing bowl.

Whisk all ingredients for the dressing together and pour over the vegetables. Toss to combine with the chopped herbs.

Serve warm or cold, with or without feta, on its own or as a side.

Healthy??? Chocolate Chip Cookies

Okay, so a recipe for a healthy chocolate chip cookie isn’t something I would usually leap at with great enthusiasm. I imagine heavy, doorstopper like pucks with the texture of slightly moistened saw dust and tasting pretty much like not sweet enough cardboard.

I know that sugar alternatives have come a long way since back in the day when my mother read Sugar Blues and virtually banned the stuff from a good part of our childhood but those memories still sting. And, I was preparing for this trip to the Caribbean and the thought of exposing more flesh than what is on show wearing jeans and a rain coat was weighing heavily when I came across this one. 

Like the veggie burgers, it comes from The Golden Door Cooks at Home by Dean Rucker and Marah Stets.

I don’t usually find a lot of inspiration in vegan baking. I believe in butter. That isn’t to say that I think vegans are in any way misguided. On the contrary, I admire them and believe it is an amazing thing to commit to. But, there are times when animal products seem to belong in cooking and, more often than not, baking is one of them. On the other hand, I also think it is important to get outside of one’s sweet and buttery comfort zone every now and then.

By now, I probably don’t need to tell you that I was a little skeptical but it had been about ten days since my last sweet and I was pretty sure that these would be a justifiable caloric splurge. I had even stayed away from the dark chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, also known in our house as God’s gift to cake, that I had made for my sister’s birthday. More admirably, I had managed to stay away from the leftover frosting in the fridge.

While we were making these, I read the recipe to Poppy and was explaining what we had to do. I stopped in the midst of collecting ingredients to rescue Tilly, who was tangled up in some chair legs and, because I often have the attention span of a gnat these days, I was distracted. A few minuted later, I was reminded of the job underway by Poppy saying, 'Hurry up, we have to mill some oats now.' I decided we would be making these again just to mill oats in the food processor.

These cookies were good. There was no sawdustiness. The texture was a little crispy and a little chewy which isn’t a bad thing in a cookie. They were nicely sweet.  I will admit to adding 3 times the amount of chocolate chips called for because I don’t think you can call cookies chocolate chip cookies if you have to search for the chocolate chips. Does that make them less healthy? Yeah, it probably does. 

The cookies didn’t make it to Poppy’s preschool, the intended destination, because the recipe only made eighteen in the end. Maybe we made them too big but they weren’t huge. Maybe, because the recipe comes from a health spa, they are supposed to be really small. But, by the time we had tasted a couple to be sure they were good, there weren’t enough to go around so we had to eat them ourselves, except for the ones that went to some friends’ house for dinner.

I probably ate four of them and I enjoyed them completely but, with each one, I couldn’t help thinking that, with a little leftover cream cheese frosting, they would make pretty amazing whoopie pies. I thought about it and I thought about it some more and then I had another little think about it but I didn’t do it. I swear.

I am going to make these again sometime, when I don’t have leftover cream cheesy distractions around to cloud my judgement because they were good and if stepping outside the buttery baking box turned out this well all the time, it might be a lot easier to feel good in my bathing suit.

The only change I made, other than the quantity of chocolate chips, was to use grapeseed oil instead of vegetable oil spray. Just use a piece of paper towel to spread a thin film of oil over the parchment.

Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies from The Golden Door Cooks at Home by Dean Rucker and Marah Stets

Grapeseed oil

1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup chocolate chips

1 tablespoon ground flaxseed

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup applesauce

3 tablespoons grapeseed oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350º. Line two baking sheets with parchment and, using a piece of paper towel, cover the parchment with a very thin film of grapeseed oil.

In a food processor, pulse the oats to a fine meal. It should take about ten minutes. Transfer the oats to a large mixing bowl and add the rest of the dry ingredients.

Whisk together the wet ingredients and add to the dry. Use a spatula to fold them together until just incorporated.

The batter will be the consistency of muffin batter.

Spoon rounded tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheet, 11/2 “ apart. Use the back of a wet spoon to flatten each cookie out a bit.

Bake one sheet at a time for about 20 minutes, until light golden brown.

Transfer to cooling rack.

These won’t keep for too long but it didn’t seem to be a problem here.