Dutch Oven Ratatouille

My folks gave me a huge basket-full of vegetables from their garden and it was great, except...my wife and daughter left town for 2 weeks. I knew I had to do something with them STAT, but what could be an easy one-shot deal? Then I remembered we recently bought a cast iron dutch oven and haven't really used it yet.

The best part of this meal is how good your house will smell when you're done.
The worst part...probably how long it takes: 1 hour in the oven. It might have been a better idea on my part to do this in the winter, considering it's one of the hottest summers on record. But regardless, was fab.

Here's what I had and here's what I made....substitute if you dare:

(everything is rough chopped into 1 - 1.5 inch cubes)
• 3 Japanese eggplants
• 2 squash medium to large
• 1.5 boxes of baby portobello (halved if large, whole if not)
• 1 large red onion
• 2 medium tomatoes (I would've used 2 more if I had them).
• 5-7 garlic cloves, whole
• 1 bell pepper
• several glugs of olive oil
• several generous sprinkles of salt and crackles of pepper
• for later, have about 15 basil leaves ready

Mix well in a huge bowl and toss into the dutch oven, preheated to 400º, covered...40 min.
Open and uncover, cook for 20 - 30 more minutes - the mushrooms should be shriveled, the whole mess will be half it's original size, with a nice broth developed. Fold in the basil leaves.

I served this with a spicy couscous, but could go well as a side with pork chops or crusty bread too.
1:1 ratio ----> couscous : water
To the water, add sage, thyme, dried parsley, salt pepper and 1tb sriracha sauce. When boiled, remove from heat & add couscous. Cover and fluff in about 5 - 10min.

This made a ton, so share it.

Sausage Sauced Turkey Fettucini

This was a last minute thing...kind of like this blog.
We were all hungry and already had some ground turkey; I knew I wanted pasta (little Cyan asked for pasta earlier). Pretty simple dish, hella satisfying. This is one of those pantry meals, as long as you have some ground turkey and some veggies in the fridge, you're golden. The fennel and red pepper adds a nice sweetness and a reminiscence of sausage. The 2.5 year old stuffed herself silly with this and it's packed with all kinds of veggies and good stuff. Hope you like it...

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey
5 cloves garlic - minced
1 medium onion - diced
1 pack of shrooms - crimini is good - diced
1 red bell pepper - diced - this was hanging out in our fridge along with the opened box of shrooms, feel free to substitute here: shredded carrot, green pepper, artichoke...
1 large can of crushed tomatoes
2 tsp sage
2 tsp fennel seed
2 tsp dried basil
1 tbsp paprika
sugar
kosher salt
fresh ground pepper
1lb your favorite pasta, we used fettuccine
olive oil (light & extra virgin)
shredded or shaved Parmesan

1. Start by filling a large pot with water and having it on standby. Heat up a large skillet on medium, add about 3 tbsp extra virgin, drop in the garlic. 30 sec, add onion. 1 min, add shrooms. 1 min, add red pepper. Add 1/2 spices, s+p and cook until tender & caramelized. Remove from pan, set aside.
2. Return pan to heat, increase temp to med high, add 3 tbsp light olive oil. Add meat & brown. Make sure you chop it up fine as it cooks and break up any clumps - this helps it mix well & absorb the sauce. when it's almost cooked, add remaining spices and season with s+p well.
3. Turn on pasta water heat.
4. Add veggie mix to meat and stir well. Add can of tomatoes & 1 tbsp of extra virgin. Stir, heat through and taste - make sure it's seasoned well. Add 1 tbsp - 2 tbsp of sugar to help cut the acidity of the mater sauce - it helps, trust me, but taste it as you add.
5. Let sauce simmer on low in pan uncovered. Add nice toss of salt to pasta water once boiling and add pasta. When almost cooked, add 1 cup of pasta water to sauce. Drain pasta & serve with sauce & parm on top.

enjoy.
dk