summer send off … Roasted Ratatouille with Sweet Corn Polenta

As usual, I’m late to the party.  I learned about Ottolenghi, the eponymous London restaurant founded by Yotom Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, from the owner of small bed and breakfast in the Dordogne Valley long, long after everyone else.  I had to go all the way to France to learn about a couple of Israeli cooks who own a lovely food shop in London.  Yet somehow, that seems fitting.  By the time I got up to speed, their second cookbook Plenty had been published and their third, Jerusalem, was on the way.  They cooked in a manner I could instantly relate to – vegetable heavy and calling on the familiar yet exotic flavors of the Mediterranean, Italy and North Africa with a good does of California. I liked it.  A lot.

But the funny thing is, I haven’t cooked much from Plenty and I don’t really have a good reason as to why.  I’ve liked the few recipes I’ve made and have consumed large quantities of the excellent garlicky buttermilk sauce that’s part of the cover recipe.  Chalk it up to time, forgetfulness, and too many unread books but somehow, this one was pushed aside, temporarily neglected.

Until recently.  I saw a post on the sweet corn polenta recipe from this book and wondered how I’d missed it.  Everything about it was appealing – I adore polenta and there is nothing better than sweet corn in season.  How could that not be good?  It was time to unearth Plenty from its forgotten pile and a few weekends ago, when  corn was at it’s absolute peak, I grabbed a few ears and gave it a try.

It was good, more of a sweet corn puree than what I imagined a polenta would be, but it was very good.  Ottelenghi topped his polenta with a saucy roasted eggplant but that seemed a little too cold weather and blustery to me.  I’m not ready to bow to Old Man Winter yet.  I wanted something a little more summery, something that better reflects the season and the bounty of the late summer produce overflowing on my kitchen counters.  I paused for a second and looked at the baskets – multi-hued tomatoes of course, but also peppers, red onions, eggplants, and zucchini.  I looked again and realized I had the makings of ratatouille, the wonderful dish of southern France.  It was perfect and would use a good portion of my excessive farmers market purchases.

Except I didn’t want to make ratatouille the traditional way … individually sautéing each vegetable then carefully combining into a flavorful saucy mixture.  I had other things to do so I used an easier roasting method.  All the vegetables were cut about the same size, tossed on a sheet plan with olive oil and spices then a hot oven.  Give a couple stirs and it’s ready in under an hour, when the vegetables begin to brown and collapse a bit.  I roasted a fat head of garlic at the same time then squeezed out the soft, buttery cloves to add to the mixture later.  Is it a true ratatouille?  Not in the least but it’s just as tasty.

I topped the sweet corn polenta with a big scoop of the roasted ratatouille, topped with a crumble of fresh goat cheese and a sprinkle of basil.  It was the happiest lunch I’ve had in a long while.  Everything about it screamed late summer bounty, the kind of lunch you sit back, eat quietly with slow, deliberate spoonfuls and a big grin.  It was that kind of crazy delicious.

STRESS BAKING THERAPY FACTOR:  GIANT.  This is one of those recipes that is fairly simple but packs a big punch.  It is a touch time consuming but fairly easy, deliberately so and yet rather impressive.  Kind of fancy in fact.  A few bites in and you realize you’re eating summer in a bowl, one of those dishes that just makes you smile.  Make sure the corn is super fresh, just picked and the sweetest it can be for the best results.

On this blog four years ago:  Fig, Walnut Honey Galette
On this blog three years ago: Peach Frozen Custard
On this blog two years ago: Sweet Corn Soup
On this blog one year ago:  Fig BBQ Sauce

ROATED RATATOUILLE WITH SWEET CORN POLENTA 
Serves 4

For the roasted ratatouille:
1 head of garlic
1 medium red onion, cut into ¾” pieces
1 large bell pepper, cut into ¾” pieces
2 medium Japanese eggplant, about ¾ pound, cut into half moons about ½” thick
2 medium zucchini or yellow squash, cut into half moons about ½” thick
1 ½ cups cherry or grape tomatoes, about 8 ounces
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
ground black pepper to taste
¾ teaspoon dried summer savory
½ teaspoon dried rosemary
½ teaspoon dried thyme
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

For the sweet corn polenta:
4-5 ears of corn, cleaned
3 cups water
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
½ teaspoon kosher salt
ground black pepper to taste
2 Tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil
7 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled

1. For the ratatouille:  Position rack in the top and bottom third of the oven and heat to 400°F.
2. Line a sheet pan with a sheet of parchment.
3. Cut the top of the head of garlic, just enough so each clove is exposed.
4. Place on a piece of foil, cut side up, sprinkle with salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.  Wrap tightly in the foil.
5. In a large bowl, toss together all the vegetables, olive oil, savory, rosemary, thyme, salt and a few grinds of pepper.
6. Spread the vegetables evenly on the prepared sheet pan.
7. Roast the vegetables on one oven rack, tucking the foil wrapped garlic on the side of the pan or on the rack above.
8. Stir the vegetables a 2-3 times during roasting, until slightly collapsed, starting to brown, and very tender, about 45 minutes.
9. While the vegetables roast, make the polenta.
10. For the polenta:  Cut the kernels from the cobs and measure 1 ¼ pounds of fresh corn kernels (about 3 ¾ cups of kernels.)  Depending on how large your ears are, you may not use all five – in general, I use almost 4 good sized ears.
11. Place the kernels in a medium saucepan with the water.
12. Bring to a boil then immediately reduce to low and simmer for 15 minutes.
13. Place a strainer over a bowl and strain the kernels from the liquid.  You should have about 1 ½ cups of liquid
14. Transfer the kernels to a food processor, with ½ cup of the cooking liquid, and process until smooth.
15. Return this corn “paste” back to the saucepan with 1 cup of reserved cooking liquid and cook on low, stirring occasionally for 10-15 minutes until the mixture thickens to the consistency of mashed potatoes (or polenta.  Hello.)
16. Fold in the butter, salt and a few grinds of pepper. Taste and add more salt if needed.
17. Finish the dish:  Remove both the vegetables and the garlic packet from the oven and allow to cool.
18. When the garlic is cool enough to handle, squeeze the cloves from the head, breaking up the cloves into smaller pieces if desired.
19. Add the roasted garlic cloves a bowl with the roasted vegetables and give a gentle stir to combine.  Taste for seasoning and add more salt and or pepper if needed.  Cover with foil to keep warm.
20. To serve:  Place polenta in a shallow bowl, top with the warm ratatouille, crumbled goat cheese and sprinkle with fresh basil.