This morning I had big ONE-TRIP-OR-NOTHING mentality. I needed a single ingredient to make dinner and instead of grabbing it from the store in my neighborhood, I drove to Trader Joe’s and bought enough pantry goods to last until August. I’m very pleased with myself for avoiding a second trip across town. You better believe I also hurt my neck trying to carry it all inside in one go.
The ingredient I actually needed was roasted red peppers because this really annoying thing happened! The garden produced all the vegetables for ratatouille at the same time…except for peppers. I suppose I should add that 1) we don’t grow any paste tomatoes and 2) even if we did, I don’t have the patience to remove seeds and skins. It feels a bit nonsensical to buy cans of tomatoes when I am basically drowing in fresh ones, but you know what? Not everything has to make sense all the time.
Tonight I’ll sautee an onion in garlic oil, add a splash of sherry, a can of tomatoes, sliced zucchini, the red peppers, lemon thyme and roasted eggplant leftover from yesterday, then let it cook down until fragrant and jammy.
I’ll serve it on top of polenta cooked in tomato broth. What is tomato broth, you ask? It’s fresh tomatoes, halved and seared in a heavy pot, deglazed with sherry, seasoned with salt and sugar, and simmered for two hours with a whole head of garlic and leek tops. Funny how I have patience for that, isn’t it?
To garnish, shaved Pecorino and chopped parsley.