Ratatouille, Disney-Style

Anyone can cook.  Those three words define the Disney movie Ratatouille.  As someone with a love of cooking, it seems only natural that I would also love the movie about a rat who can cook in a famous and fancy French restaurant.  I have watched that movie several times, and, each time, I become particularly entranced with the scenes where the characters are actually cooking.  Now, I am not sure whether I am prepared to make Sweetbreads a la Gustauve, but I did decide to try making Ratatouille in the style that Remy did to win over the critic Ego.

It helps to have a recipe and I found a recipe for Ratatouille, Disney Style on Allrecipes.  This recipe begins with an immediate problem, one that is never addressed in the movie itself.  The recipe calls for the use of eggplants, red bell peppers, yellow bell peppers, and zucchini.  All of these ingredients will make a fine ratatouille; however, the key to the Disney ratatouille is ensuring that the individual slices are all the same size.  If you go back and watch the movie, as I did when I made this dish, the slices are identical in size.  This makes for great Hollywood, but it presents an obstacle in a real kitchen.  To overcome this obstacle, I cut the bell pepper slices in half and arranged them in a way that it appeared they were the same size as the eggplant. I also used two slices of zucchini in an effort to make it appear larger than it really was.

These modifications worked, to a certain extent.  However, the final product did not look anything like the ratatouille in the kitchen.  The end result was still a very eye-pleasing array of colors that could be somewhat stacked on a plate for service.  The dollop of marscapone at the end adds a richness to the dish that would otherwise be lacking.  

RATATOUILLE, DISNEY-STYLE

Recipe from All Recipes

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1 can of tomato paste (6 ounces)
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 cup minced garlic
1 tablespoon of olive oil
3/4 cup of water
1 small eggplant, trimmed and very thinly sliced
1 zucchini, trimmed and very thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, cored and very thinly sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, cored and very thinly sliced
3 tablespoons of olive or to taste
1 teaspoon of fresh thyme leaves, or to taste
3 tablespoons of mascarpone cheese

Directions:

1. Prepare the ratatouille.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Spread the tomato paste into the bottom of a 10x10 baking dish. Sprinkle with onion and garlic and stir in 1 tablespoon olive oil and water until thoroughly combined. Season with salt and black pepper. Arrange alternating slices of eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, red bell pepper, and yellow bell pepper, starting at the outer edge of the dish and working concentrically towards the center. Overlap the slices a little to display the colors. Drizzle the vegetables with 3 tablespoons olive oil and season with salt and black pepper. Sprinkle with thyme leaves. Cover vegetables with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside.

2.  Bake the ratatouille. Bake in the preheated oven until vegetables are roasted and tender, about 45 minutes. Serve with dollops of mascarpone cheese.

ENJOY!

 

Gordon Ramsay's Tomato Risotto

There are many tomato risotto recipes out there on the Internet and I am sure that they are all very delicious.  There is only one tomato risotto recipe that I have ever wanted to make.  It is a recipe by Gordon Ramsay, the award-winning chef.  He has dozens of restaurants around the world and a total of nine Michelin stars (hence my description of Chef Ramsay as an "award-winning Chef"). 

Many people may not know about Gordon Ramsay's restaurants, such as the Fat Cow in Los Angeles, or Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea.  Instead, they may have learned about Chef Ramsay through television shows like Hell's Kitchen or Kitchen Nightmares.  I must admit that I am an avid fan of both shows and, it is through hours of watching these shows that I began to learn about the Chef.  While the shows are enjoyable and informative (as these shows teach viewers what not to do if you own a restaurant or are trying to cook a dish), I really did not learn much about Chef Ramsay's own cooking.  For example, if you watch Hell's Kitchen, you can see a bunch of highly motivated people try to reproduce Chef Ramsay's recipes for Beef Wellington, but you don't get to see how the recipe is made.  You only see a brief glimpse of someone trying to prepare the dish and the end product: a dish that often times elicits a profane response such as "its fucking raw" from the Chef.

I have always wanted to prepare a recipe written by Chef Ramsay and, recently, I decided to make his recipe for Tomato Risotto.  It was part of a special dinner that I had planned for my beautiful Angel and wife, Clare. Although I had prepared risotto in the past, this recipe differed in significant respects.  First, it did not call for the use of wine.  Many risotto recipes call for a use of a cup of white wine after you cover the rice in the hot oil.  That is the first liquid that gets absorbed into the rice.  Second, this recipe called for the use of mascarpone cheese.  I really liked the use of the cheese because it added to the creaminess and richness of the dish.   Finally, I liked the incorporation of sauteed tomatoes, because the skins offered a little crunch (note: I used the potato masher rather than the sieve).  It is definitely better to have the crunch come from the skins than the risotto.
 

GORDON RAMSAY'S TOMATO RISOTTO

Recipe by Gordon Ramsay

Serves 4

Ingredients:
2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
200 grams of arborio rice
500 mililiters of chicken or vegetable stock
50 grams of unsalted butter
250 grams of cherry tomatoes
100 grams of marscapone cheese
25 grams of parmesan cheese

Directions:

1.  Prepare the rice.  Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the rice and stir well to coat the grains in the oil.  Bring the stock to a boil and add 1 ladleful of it at a time to the rice, stirring well after each addition, until the liquid has been cooked but still al dente.  This will take about 15 to 18 minutes.

2.  Prepare the tomatoes.  As you prepare the risotto, heat the butter in a small saucepan, add the tomatoes and gently cook for about 10 minutes until soft.  Pass through a mouli or coarse sieve; alternatively mash with a potato masher.

3.  Finish the dish.  When the rice is cooked, fold in the mascarpone, Parmesan and the tomato mixtures, adjust the seasoning and serve.

In the end, this risotto dish may be a "go-to" dish when entertaining guests.  It is a very delicious dish and relatively simple to make.  For those reasons, I will definitely be making it again, although I am not sure I would make it for Chef Ramsay even if given the opportunity.  After watching all of those hours of Hell's Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares, I would fear what Chef Ramsay would have to say about my cooking.

ENJOY!