Chicken Ratatouille

This is the first time I've ever tried to make ratatouille. I researched a few recipes, and then just decided to give it a go with my own.

This was delicious. Unbelievably delicious.

I used:

2 tomatoes, peeled and skinned: $0.60
1 zucchini: $0.35
1 green bell pepper: $0.30
1 medium-sized onion: $0.15
2-3 small cloves of garlic: $0.05
200 grams of skinless, boneless chicken breast: $2.80 (was on special)
about 1/4 cup of olive oil (or cooking oil): about $0.50 for olive oil ($0.05 for cooking oil)
1/2 a cup of rice: $0.30
salt to taste
black pepper to taste
dash of dried basil
pinch of dried thyme
1 small bay leaf (optional)

TOTAL: $5.05, generously serving 2

Ratatouille is peasant food, best made in summer when ingredients are cheap and fresh. It normally includes eggplant, but I am not the biggest fan of eggplant. There are multiple approaches to cooking ratatouille. Julia Child's famous recipe suggests that you cook all ingredients separately, and then layer them into a casserole pot, cover with a lid and cook in an oven. Cooking all the vegetables separately means that they don't become mushy. This is wise counsel, but it is time consuming.

If you're like me, and you don't mind your ingredients being a bit mushy and you are a bit short of time, you might want overlook this detail and just add the ingredients into one deep frying pan or pot in this order:

- onions
- green peppers
- garlic
- salt, pepper, basil, thyme
- zucchini
- tomatoes
- chicken

Here's what I did:

Preparation:

Chop the onions and zucchini into 1-inch chunks. Slice the green peppers into thin slices.

Boil a pot of water. When the water is boiling, put the tomatoes in for 10-15 SECONDS. Drain immediately. The tomatoes will now peel very easily. Peel, chop, and seed the tomatoes. Chop into about 1 to 2-inch chunks.

Marinate the chicken in a little bit of oil, salt, pepper, basil, and thyme. Leave aside.

Crush or thinly chop garlic.

Process:

Saute the onions in the oil until very lightly golden on medium heat. Add green peppers and cook for 2-4 minutes on low-medium heat.

Add garlic and spices. Let cook for another 30 seconds.

Add zucchini. Do not stir. Cover and let cook for another 3-5 minutes.

Add peeled, seeded tomatoes, cover and let cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Transfer all contents into a casserole pot, gently, trying not to break the vegetables. Put the marinated chicken on top of the vegetable mix.

Cover with lid and bake in the oven at 375˚C for 30 minutes.

Serve on top of rice.

On salt:

After cooking tomatoes, taste the sauce. If it is not sweet, then you are lacking salt. You can tell that it needs more salt if the sauce has an ever-so-slightly bitter, almost metallic, aftertaste. It is better to be modest about salt, because you can't take it back once you're made your sauce too salty. So add salt with caution, stopping once it is sweet tasting.

This was absolutely delicious, and perfectly seasonal.

Bon appetit!