Ratatouille - not the movie, and no rats involved!

One of my favourite fall recipes is this - so delicious with fresh produce, and keeps well, although not frozen.  Can be eaten warm or at room temperature, great to pack in lunches, and very healthy, although it tastes rich and exotic.

 2 large onions, chopped

1/2 garlic blossom (maybe 6-8 cloves)

2 stalks celery

1 red bell pepper, chopped

three small zucchini, chopped

four small eggplant, peeled and chopped

2 bay leaf

1/4 - 1/2 teas. ground cinnamon

can of really good tomatoes

1 pint fresh cherry tomatoes

1 can chick peas, rinsed

olive oil

hot pepper flakes (optional)

Brown the onions in olive oil, until lightly coloured.  Add the celery, pepper, zucchini and garlic.  Continue to brown and colour slightly.  Add the chopped eggplant, bay leaf, tomatoes, hot pepper flakes and cinnamon. Stir well,  If not enough liquid, add in about 1/2 can of water.  Cover and let simmer for 1 hour.

Add the chick peas and let rest for 1/2 hour.  Taste for salt and pepper.

Will keep, well covered and refridgerated, for four or five days.  Great as a side dish, or as a starting base for a cassarole including lamb, chicken or fish.

Duplicating Newfoundland Chowder

When Ron and I were in Newfoundland for almost 10 days, we had a bowl of chowder almost everyday at some restaurant or another.  We loved all of them to varying degrees, and selected the best elements of each of them to concoct our chowder.

First we made fish stock out of lobster shells, shrimp shells, lemon, onion, bay leaf, thyme, garlic. Alternatively, you could buy trimmings from the fish counter, or use fish boullion.  The stock we made turned out to be enough for four batches of soup.  We also had a jar of clam juice on standby, in case it wasn't "fishy" enough, but we didn't need it.

Brown chopped onion, celery, carrots, garlic in proportions you like in a bit of butter or olive oil. I used one large onion, 2 stalks of celery, 1/2 as much carrot and one garlic clove minced.  It's important to get some colour on the onion, in particular, to add to the depth of flavour.

Add in one diced potato.  I like to use a baking potato (like a russet) as they tend not to be waxy or slimy. We left the skin on, but you could peel it if you like.

Add in about 4 cups of your fish stock.  Simmer until the vegetables are soft.  Add in a portion of chopped lobster meat (we used frozen lobster meat, mostly claws, about 1 1/2 cups of  minced meat.  Taste for salt and pepper. Take off the burner, and add in two portions of salmon fillets.  Cover and let poach while you prepare the other ingredients.

To ensure that shrimp and scallops are not overcooked, we seared them separately, and placed them in the bowls to pour the rest of the soup on top.  Nothing worse than overcooked scallops!  We had four shrimp and two scallop each.

The final thing to do is make the chowder creamy and slightly thickened.  We used 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of table cream, mixed up with 2 tbsp of cornstarch.  We stirred this into the fish stock/salmon/lobster mixture and put it back on to simmer.  It's important not to boil it too hard, or the cream will split, but you want to make sure the cornstarch gets cooked.  Test again for salt and pepper.

It won't be THIIIICCCCKKK, but slightly thickened and creamy smooth.  Ladle over the scallops and shrimp in the bowls and enjoy.

The next day we had to chowder for lunch, without the scallops and shrimp, and it was still AWESOME!