What an amazingly delicious Sunday was had today… and the best part… we hardly had any clean-up afterwards. Dinner this time was with my wonderful s’laws. We packed up our contribution a --Ratatouille Tart and took a little road trip out to Seneca. The food was delicious and of course the company scintillating. When we got there we were greeted by a very wet mother-in-law who had been grilling her heart out in the rain and huge basketfuls of home grown organic vegetables. After suitable drying time we gathered round the table for an extravaganza of amazing veggie dishes including the ratatouille tart, stuffed goat cheese mushrooms, stuffed peppers with polenta and cheese and a delicious salad with turnip. Though all this would have been more than enough to satisfy any gourmand my s’laws had one more finger-licking dish up their sleeves -- grilled organic pork ribs marinated in MIL and FIL’s home-made barbecue sauce. The sauce was truly a perfect combination of sweet and spicy. With so much deliciousness all around -- we ate and talked -- laughed and watched the beautiful birds flitting all around the porch. We got up to stretch and to try to make room for the finale --- a home-made peach pie. MIL and FIL even made the ultimate sacrifice and broke out the last of the Schwann’s triple lemon frozen yogurt.
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Not to be too vain… but our contribution was beautiful, yummy … and here’s the kicker …. low calorie. The recipe came from Ellie Krieger’s book -- The Food You Crave. The book is truly wonderful. We’ve tried two or three recipes and have marked at least a dozen to try. I’d seen her show on Food Network and her features in Fine Cooking and was already a fan, but the tart made me a believer. I made some adjustments but here is the recipe. I hope you enjoy it as much as we have!
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Cornmeal-Crusted Roasted Ratatouille Tart
For the crust:
2/3 C yellow cornmeal (medium grind)
1/3 C whole-grain pastry flour
1/4 t salt
2 T unsalted butter
2 T olive oil
3 T water
For the Filling:
2 T plus 1t olive oil
2 shallots diced
5 sprigs fresh thyme
1 small eggplant cut into thin even rounds
1 small zucchini cut into thin even rounds
2 medium ripe tomatoes thinly sliced
1/4 t each salt and freshly ground pepper
3/4 C shredded part-skim mozzarella
1/4 C shredded basil
1/4 C freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 350 and start the crust. In a food processor combine the cornmeal, flour and salt and pulse to combine. Add the butter, oil and pulse until the mixture resembles small pebbles. Add water and pulse until the mixture forms a loose dough. Remove the dough and press into the bottom and sides of a 9” tart plan about 1/8 up the sides of the tart pan. Dock the crust and add aluminum foil plus pie weights or rice. Bake for 10 minutes and remove the weights. Remove the foil and weights and cook for another 10 minutes. Let it cool and start with the filling. Turn up the oven to 400. Wrap a cookie sheet with foil, spray with cooking spray and place the sliced tomato, zucchini and eggplants. Use 2 T olive oil and brush the veggies and salt and pepper them to taste. Roast for about 15 minutes until the veggies are soft but not brown. Remove the veggies from the oven and let cool then turn the oven down to 350. In a separate pan add the remaining oil and sauté the shallots and thyme until soft. Layer the eggplant overlapping as necessary on the cornmeal crust; cover with 1/3 of the mozzarella and some of the shredded basil. Add the zucchini and shallots and top with another third of the mozzarella and the remaining basil. Add the zucchini and the rest of the mozzerella , top with the tomatoes and more basil. Top with the parmesan. Bake until the cheese is melted and the vegetables have further wilted about 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven, let cool for 5 minutes and cut into 8 slices, serve warm. You’re not going to believe it but ,each slice is only 225 calories!
