My daughter is going through a "I'm addicted to Ratatouille, the Disney movie, phase".
I found the Ratatouille cookbook off Ebay (where you can find ANYTHING you think, or may not KNOW you need- ha ha) for my daughter, as I had read many reviews, advising it was a great cookbook for kids. We decided since she's 2, it's time to get her started cooking-keeping the family tradition going!
Grandma decided that they would tackle Ratatouille itself first (no weakling there huh?)! Darling daughter had a good time helping with the "chopping", loading items in bowl
and stirring it up. Due to her age, we keep her away from the stove, and just let her help with prep. Instead of the formed dish from the movie, true Ratatouille is more of a vegetable stew (as seen in the critic's flashback moment in the movie). We served ours over rice (we're southern, what else would we serve stew over?). I personally am not a fan of eggplant and squash (please don't send me comments- I had to try them as a child-hated them, tried them as an adult-still hate them), but the flavor of this recipe is excellent!
Ratatouille (From the What's Cooking? A Cookbook for Kids ed by Thomas Keller)
1 large eggplant, cubed
4 small zucchini, chopped
4 tomatoes, chopped (we used a can of tomatoes,drained)
1 bulb garlic, chopped )or less, depends on how much you like it)
1/2 to 1/2 cp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cp chopped fresh basil (we used dried)
1 red or yellow pepper,chopped (we used combo of both)
Parmesan Cheese
Rice- instant or regular (make while working on Ratatouille)
Additionally we had some leftover baked chicken that we shredded and added to the mix, to stretch the dish and as a good way to use up the leftover chicken!
1. Salt the eggplant, then drain in a colander for 1 hours, then pat dry.
2. Heat half the oil in a large saucepan and briefly saute the eggplant til brown, then add the onion and peppers. Then add garlic, zucchini and tomatoes. Cook until a soft stew has formed, about 15-20 minutes
3. Add chicken, if you want to. Add salt, pepper and basil. Sprinkle with the cheese and serve over the rice.
You can freeze any leftovers. Serves 4 (per original recipe). By adding chicken and more peppers we really got more like 8 servings. When you put it over the rice it really is enough for 2 meals if served with salad and bread or rolls.)
Bonus- Dessert- Eiffel Towers, aka tribute to Julia Child (it didn't come out like the pix in the book, but we didn't care, we just did a Julia and rolled with it-still tasted great! Warning- do not go too Julia and drink wine while making your tower- it may end up looking more like the Leaning Tower of Pisa!)
This is the SIMPLEST dessert- kids LOVE it (big kids too!) AND they can help put it together!
It is VERY impressive to
a 2 yr old, and easily made by older children.
Cookie Eiffel Tower
1 large pack of sugar wafers
White frosting (your choice but we think royal icing probably works the best)
Ice cream (optional)
Chocolate Sauce (optional)
1. Take 11-12 wafers per tower. You need extra as the wafers are NOT the sturdiest of building blocks!
2. Take one wafer and coat bottom with icing, angle 4 wafers underneath as tower base, attach bases with icing to plate. Let sit to harden some (reason why ours is not properly aligned- didn't harden up enough!
3. Once the base is not moving by breathing on it (trust me on this measure), you can take 5 wafers and cut 1/4th off top of each. Take 4 and 'clue' with icing to your top layer of your towar on the 4 corners. Take the last wafer and frost bottom, then "glue" to the top of these wafers. Let sit to harden up. Eat the remaining 1/4 pieces- you've earned it!
4. Take one wafer and cut in half. Ice and "glue" to top of your second layer. Eat other half. YUM
5. Now the HARD part. Take a wafer and TRY to make a triangle out of it. When successful (yes, Virginia, you CAN eat all the whoopsies- this is why you have a large pack- they CRUMBLE when you cut them!). When you have accomplished this, you can then ice bottom edge and "glue" onto your second layer.
6. Waala. One tower done. Now if these are for a party, go ahead and add some paper French flags to the top.
7. Add scoop of vanilla ice cream to side of tower, cover with sauce. Serve
Okay- if you get beyond step 5 with the kids helping let me know- at this point they want to EAT the tower- and really all that sugar, you need to add ice cream? Nah- just let them have at it
and be Godzillas and destroy, I mean Eat, the tower!
Bon Appetit!
I found the Ratatouille cookbook off Ebay (where you can find ANYTHING you think, or may not KNOW you need- ha ha) for my daughter, as I had read many reviews, advising it was a great cookbook for kids. We decided since she's 2, it's time to get her started cooking-keeping the family tradition going!
Grandma decided that they would tackle Ratatouille itself first (no weakling there huh?)! Darling daughter had a good time helping with the "chopping", loading items in bowl
and stirring it up. Due to her age, we keep her away from the stove, and just let her help with prep. Instead of the formed dish from the movie, true Ratatouille is more of a vegetable stew (as seen in the critic's flashback moment in the movie). We served ours over rice (we're southern, what else would we serve stew over?). I personally am not a fan of eggplant and squash (please don't send me comments- I had to try them as a child-hated them, tried them as an adult-still hate them), but the flavor of this recipe is excellent!
Ratatouille (From the What's Cooking? A Cookbook for Kids ed by Thomas Keller)1 large eggplant, cubed
4 small zucchini, chopped
4 tomatoes, chopped (we used a can of tomatoes,drained)
1 bulb garlic, chopped )or less, depends on how much you like it)
1/2 to 1/2 cp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cp chopped fresh basil (we used dried)
1 red or yellow pepper,chopped (we used combo of both)
Parmesan Cheese
Rice- instant or regular (make while working on Ratatouille)
Additionally we had some leftover baked chicken that we shredded and added to the mix, to stretch the dish and as a good way to use up the leftover chicken!
1. Salt the eggplant, then drain in a colander for 1 hours, then pat dry.
2. Heat half the oil in a large saucepan and briefly saute the eggplant til brown, then add the onion and peppers. Then add garlic, zucchini and tomatoes. Cook until a soft stew has formed, about 15-20 minutes
3. Add chicken, if you want to. Add salt, pepper and basil. Sprinkle with the cheese and serve over the rice.
You can freeze any leftovers. Serves 4 (per original recipe). By adding chicken and more peppers we really got more like 8 servings. When you put it over the rice it really is enough for 2 meals if served with salad and bread or rolls.)
Bonus- Dessert- Eiffel Towers, aka tribute to Julia Child (it didn't come out like the pix in the book, but we didn't care, we just did a Julia and rolled with it-still tasted great! Warning- do not go too Julia and drink wine while making your tower- it may end up looking more like the Leaning Tower of Pisa!)
This is the SIMPLEST dessert- kids LOVE it (big kids too!) AND they can help put it together!
It is VERY impressive to
a 2 yr old, and easily made by older children.
Cookie Eiffel Tower
1 large pack of sugar wafers
White frosting (your choice but we think royal icing probably works the best)
Ice cream (optional)
Chocolate Sauce (optional)
1. Take 11-12 wafers per tower. You need extra as the wafers are NOT the sturdiest of building blocks!
2. Take one wafer and coat bottom with icing, angle 4 wafers underneath as tower base, attach bases with icing to plate. Let sit to harden some (reason why ours is not properly aligned- didn't harden up enough!
3. Once the base is not moving by breathing on it (trust me on this measure), you can take 5 wafers and cut 1/4th off top of each. Take 4 and 'clue' with icing to your top layer of your towar on the 4 corners. Take the last wafer and frost bottom, then "glue" to the top of these wafers. Let sit to harden up. Eat the remaining 1/4 pieces- you've earned it!
4. Take one wafer and cut in half. Ice and "glue" to top of your second layer. Eat other half. YUM
5. Now the HARD part. Take a wafer and TRY to make a triangle out of it. When successful (yes, Virginia, you CAN eat all the whoopsies- this is why you have a large pack- they CRUMBLE when you cut them!). When you have accomplished this, you can then ice bottom edge and "glue" onto your second layer.
6. Waala. One tower done. Now if these are for a party, go ahead and add some paper French flags to the top.
7. Add scoop of vanilla ice cream to side of tower, cover with sauce. Serve
Okay- if you get beyond step 5 with the kids helping let me know- at this point they want to EAT the tower- and really all that sugar, you need to add ice cream? Nah- just let them have at it
and be Godzillas and destroy, I mean Eat, the tower!Bon Appetit!
That is such a cool dessert idea!
ReplyDeleteAnd now that we're ratatouille blog friends (you saw my ratatouille post), I can admit to you that I'm not a huge fan of squash or eggplant too. It was good in the dish, but I'm not one to pick up that stuff at the grocery store.
Cute blog!
Love the tower pics!
ReplyDeleteI love Ratatouille too...never too old. :)
ReplyDelete