There is something about this dish that really plays on my fantasy of living in the French countryside. It’s a traditional Provencal summer dish, the ingredients of which could be gathered solely from one well-planned garden in July and throughout most of August.  The ingredients are not exclusive to the south of France; my own grandmother would have grown the traditional zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes and peppers in her garden in rural Kentucky.

It’s the abundance of herbs that inspire the romance around this dish for me.  (My grandmother didn’t grow many herbs). Any combination of summer herbs: basil, parsley, thyme, rosemary are typical. I’ve read some French cooks even add fresh lavender, which I’ve yet to try. Some fantasies may best be kept elusive.
                                                      
Perhaps the romance lies in how ratatouille represents what is best about French country cooking: simplicity. It’s really just a vegetable stew. There is a brilliant humility about it. ​

Like so many other iconic national dishes, ratatouille has some essential ingredients - eggplant, zucchini and tomato - along with possible other elements that vary from cook to cook. These elements are usually guarded like a dark family secret.

My recipe includes balsamic vinegar: not a traditional ingredient to ratatouille, although some cooks do use it.  It is a sweet and tart contribution.

The vibrant colors of the ingredients reflect the depth of phytonutrients inherent in this dish: yet another reason to love it. For example: the deep purple eggplant (anthocyanin), the red tomatoes (lycopene), and the green zucchinis (chlorophyll). Instead of the usual red or green bell peppers, look for the orange or purple or yellow for beta-carotene and Vitamin C (source here).The aromatics (garlic and onions) bring allyl sulfides and bioflavonoids, for cancer prevention (source here). And those beautiful herbs I love bring in polyphenols and endless other beneficial nutrients (source here). I think it would be fair to call ratatouille a power dish - nutritionally speaking. 

​You can put a ratatouille together in various ways. I love the beautiful photos of the dish done with layers of sliced vegetables arranged in a circle, like a tian.  But I am suspicious of how well the flavors meld presented like that. The success of a good ratatouille is the synergy between the ingredients, the melding of flavors. That’s what makes it a stew.

However, that does not mean that the cubed vegetables (as this recipe suggests) should collapse into each other completely. Mushy and unrecognizable is not the goal. 

The secret to maintaining the integrity of each vegetable is two-part. First, take the time to sear the zucchini and eggplant to give them a nice crust. Second, don’t cook the ratatouille too long.

​NOTE ABOUT THE EGGPLANT: The eggplant can be cubed with the skin left on, if you like.  Some find the skins of eggplant bitter and if so, you can remove them. You can also take the time to salt and let the eggplant drain for half an hour to further remove any bitterness. Be sure to rinse and dry the cubed eggplant if you do this step.

NOTE ABOUT THE ZUCCHINI: Make sure you let the zucchini (and eggplant) get a nice brown crust. Don't overcrowd the pan while searing the vegetables; you may need to do it in several batches. It's worth the effort: you gain some texture to the vegetables that will keep them from becoming mushy. 

Looking across the field at the ruby dots suspended amongst tangles of vine, my eyes find inspiration. Especially in the late afternoon when the sun is hitting the field just right, casting a haze on the landscape as I look through my camera lens. I think of cherry tomatoes like most kinds of berries: radiant jewels in the garden. Harvesting them is a treasure hunt. When ripe, they release into your hand with ease. So do the larger tomatoes, but let’s face it: little things are cute.
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Picking them is a pleasure and if you are inclined, you can eat as you go. Kids are supposedly more likely to eat a vegetable they’ve had a hand in growing themselves. I would say that’s true for adults too.

Pan-seared is my favorite way to eat them. I love the way little tomatoes pop and roll around in a hot pan. With enough heat and space in the pan, the petite varieties will blister immediately and begin to wilt. Less than a minute or so later, the tomatoes can be finished in endless ways: deglazed with a favorite spirit or fresh citrus juice or just a pinch of salt, for example. Then use them everywhere, from a garnish where vibrant color is desperately needed, to full-on side dish status.
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Where I wouldn’t even consider buying a regular fresh tomato any time but the heat of summer, I have become more open to the cherry and grape varieties in the grocery store year round. With their higher sugar concentration, they tend to taste more like themselves even in the cold months. And my tendency to pan-sear them anyway makes the season irrelevant. Aside from a full sized August heirloom, I don’t eat raw tomatoes. I feel good about my tomato tendencies since common research shows that cooking tomatoes releases more of their antioxidant qualities.

They shoot up from garlic plants like a crazy stalk and then fall gracefully into quirky curls, this way and that, heavy from their own weight. And when their curvaceous seed pods burst into flowers, you know the garlic bulbs below the soil are nearly, if not completely, ready for harvest.


Garlic scapes taste like garlic.  A crunchier, greener version of garlic.  They can be sautéed or stir-fried or braised in place of or with regular cloves, heightening the garlic flavor.


Garlic scapes are in season in June. It’s a fleeting season, so a sense of urgency is important. Snatch them up from your local farmers’ market. Though they’re not available for long, they will keep for awhile. 


Seek to preserve their sinuous nature when you cook with them. Challenge yourself to slice them lengthwise, creating long thin wisps that twist and turn in the dish. It’s a fun exercise. Alternatively, dice them fine, like a green onion.

​GARLIC SCAPE CONFIT:
Cut about 5 stalks in half lengthwise, or dice them.
Peel two or three heads of garlic. Place the wispy scapes and peeled garlic cloves into a very shallow baking dish, about one inch deep.  Add a few sprigs of fresh thyme or other herbs.  Pour enough extra virgin olive oil to cover the cloves and scapes. Cover the dish with foil and place in an oven set at 200 degrees.

Bake for about 30 minutes or so until the garlic cloves have softened. Check them after 15 minutes to make sure they aren’t browning too fast.  You want light amber, not dark brown.  Remove from the oven.

At this point you have something glorious:  Garlic infused olive oil and soft roasted garlic cloves.

Serve the garlic cloves and scapes straight out of the baking dish alongside grilled or toasted bread.  Or discard the scapes and thyme and store the garlic cloves and oil in an airtight jar.
The cloves can be tossed in salads or stirred into a rice dish; use the oil for vinaigrette or for drizzling onto fried eggs.  You will find ways.

ARTICHOKE y AJO:
Take the garlic scape confit to another level by adding roasted artichoke hearts for a vegan variation on a traditional Mexican Camarones y Ajo.  

After you pull the confit from the oven, crank up the heat to 400 degrees.  If you are using canned or frozen artichoke hearts, make sure they are well drained and dry. Water is not a friend to the deep caramel results you are seeking when roasting.  On a baking sheet with olive oil, roast the hearts for 15 minutes or so until caramelized.

While the artichokes are roasting, zest one lime and set aside to use as a garnish.  Cut the lime in half and when the hearts come out of the oven, squeeze the lime over them and sprinkle with sea salt.

Add them to the garlic confit and garnish the dish with lime zest and fresh ground pepper.  If you like heat, throw in some crushed red pepper flakes.

Serve with grilled bread, gluten free crackers or wooden skewers for spearing.

CAMARONES y AJO:  
The traditional Mexican Camarones y Ajo that inspired the vegan version of this dish can be prepared the same way as the artichokes for a seafood version of this dish.  Use a pound of small or medium peeled and deveined shrimp and roast in the same way as the artichoke hearts above. When the shrimp go from deep pink to pale, they’re ready.

I would love to forage for ramps one day.  I would do it more for the photo opportunity than for the fun of digging around the wet floor of the woods. I imagine the sun coming through the trees and hitting the little patches of graceful ramp leaves and how beautiful that would be. 
 
I wonder how many times I might have walked over a crop playing in the woods as a child. My grandfather, a farmer, never talked about ramps or brought any home from the woods around the farm like he did persimmons and papaws. That leads me to believe ramps didn’t grow in that part of rural Kentucky. I had never heard of the precious wild spring onions until I was already grown.

And truthfully, I didn’t pay much attention when I did hear about them - at first. It’s one of those things in life that might stay on the periphery of your consciousness, then one day come into full focus. That’s when my devotion set in.
 
Ramps have a cult following.  Here’s why:  they grow wild (intrigue), they have a short season (rare) and they are in short supply (coveted).  It’s as much these reasons as their flavor profile that has made them so hot in recent years. Though they are wild onions, I often forget that and call them wild garlic.  The flavor suggests a hybrid of the two. It’s strong.
 
The leaves are what I really love about ramps.  Otherwise, I would stick to my favorite green onion, the leek. Ramp leaves are beautiful. They’re long and triangular and elegant. You could use a small bunch to fan yourself, if temperatures were high in late April, early May. The bulbs are like a regular green onion, small, pungent. But the leaves are hearty in volume, delicate in texture, and can be prepared in countless ways. Their generous length means you can julienne them lengthwise and toss them with string pasta, like the recipe here.
 
It’s been so rainy here lately that I have skipped the farmers market, knowing that I was dangling on the edge of ramp season. This week, I scored a pound from a friend who had hoarded more than his share in his refrigerator. I took it as a sign that I should go ahead and share this recipe, despite being late in the season. I hope fate is as kind to you this weekend. ​

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THE RECIPE
 
Serves 4
 
Ingredients:
1 pound Jovial Gluten Free Tagliatelle or other string pasta of your choice
Butternut squash, about 1 pound
Ramps, 1 pound leaves and bulbs
Simple Mills Grain free Rosemary and sea salt crackers, 1 cup
            Or substitute 1 cup any GF breadcrumbs + 1 tablespoon minced
​             rosemary + 1 teaspoon sea salt + 1 teaspoon olive oil
 
3 Tablespoons olive oil
2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
2 cloves garlic, finely minced.
Juice and zest of one lemon
¼ gram or generous pinch saffron, softened in half inch of warm water
1 ½ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon white pepper

Note about the pasta:
I used Jovial’s gluten free brown rice tagliatelle (made with eggs), because I wanted a pasta that would accommodate the long strands of ramp leaves. You can use any string pasta, of course. Jovial’s tagliatelle is as good as the handmade pappardelle I used to buy for this dish.
 
Note about the sauce:
The butternut squash gives this sauce structure and body. But it will thicken quickly, especially if reheated. You can add in extra vegetable stock to thin it out, if you like. Or even a little water.
 
Note about the breadcrumbs:
These are here purely for a textural punch and can be left out if you want. I’ve recently started keeping Simple Mills almond flour crackers (the rosemary is my current favorite) in the house at all times and discovered one night they make great breadcrumbs, with an easy whirl in the food processor. You can use any brand of gluten free breadcrumb and toast them with some chopped rosemary, lemon zest, sea salt and olive oil.