Ratatoille.

So, I chose to make this because a bunch of us were going to see Ratatat, and that reminds me of Mel Brooks' History of the World: Part I:

"Rats, rats for sale. Get your rats. Good for rat stew, rat soup, or the ever-popular ratatouille"

So ratatouille it was. Being a word nerd and armchair linguist, I found that ratatouille is a compound of the word rata (shitty hot food, French slang circa 1820) and touille (from touiller, to stir up). Really.

Anyhow - onto my recipe, which I made up by mixing together a bunch of other ratatouille recipes.. Which makes this a metaratatouille.

Ingredients:
1 Eggplant
2 Zucchini
5 Ripe Tomatoes
2 Tbsp Tomato Paste
5 Diced Garlic Cloves
1 Large Yellow Onion
1 Cup Fresh Basil
Olive Oil
Cayenne Pepper
Rosemary, Oregano, Savory, Thyme (approximation of the Herbes de Provence)
Salt
(this is where things get weird)
1 Lemon
Nutmeg
White Vinegar
1/3 Stick of Butter

Steps:
- Chop eggplant into half inch cubes, and drizzle with lemon and salt to keep it looking good. Mix the juice and salt by hand to cover everything.
- Chop zucchini and tomatoes
- Chop up garlic and onions
- In a large pot, saute garlic and onion in 2 Tbsp of olive oil over lowish heat, until onions are translucent
- Add eggplant and let soften
- Touillez(!) in the zucchini and tomatoes, butter
- Add 2/3 Tsp each of rosemary, oregano, savory and thyme, AND nutmeg. The nutmeg is optional, but I think it adds a hearty flavor to the vegetables. You might want to start low on this much spice, and work your way up, by the way.. Maybe 1/3 Tsp to be safe.
- Add 1/3 Tsp of cayenne pepper (maybe more if you like more spice)
- Let tomatoes reduce (maybe 10 minutes)
- Chop up fresh basil and stir it into the mix
- Add tomato paste, and then white vinegar to taste (helps bring out tomato zest, but don't overdo it)
- Simmer until it tastes ready

So, most recipes said to make this a day in advance so the flavors can all mix together. I didn't have time for that, so the food had about one hour to get friendly with itself once I took it off the burner. And.. It was pretty good.

Another note. The vinegar and tomato paste is going to make this taste more like spaghetti sauce than ratatouille. So, again, don't overdo it.

The above, served as a side, feeds about 8. For a wine, I recommend something hearty and spicy like a pinot noir. But then, I know fuck-all about wines, and I'd probably recommend something trendy like pinot noir for just about anything.

And Ratatat was just ok. For such a sweet sweet sounding band, the guitarist is one sloppy dude live. When your band doesn't have a drummer, you can't get away with that shit, drunko.