Ratatouille inspired by Remy

There's a scene in the movie Ratatouille in which the food critic Anton Ego takes one bite of the chef's special, ratatouille, and is instantly transported back to his childhood, coming indoors after a fall, or perhaps being bullied, sniffing back tears, to be offered a hot bowl of love from his mom in the form of ratatouille.

Around here, Ratatouille is one of our favorite movies around here. Jake loves to watch it and I love that it reinforces one of our favorite activities: cooking.

We started cooking with Jake as a way to keep him occupied and to keep an eye on him while we're busy in the kitchen. It's easy for us to jump to conclusions and say our 3 year old loves to cook, but realistically, he probably loves it because its something we all do together. I hope that cooking will always bring back fond memories for him of family, just like Remy's Ratatouille did for Ego.


Ratatouille’s Ratatouille
Recipe found on Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:`

• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
• 1 cup tomato puree (stick 4-5 Roma tomatoes in the food processor and grind)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 small eggplant (my store sells these “Italian Eggplant” that are less than half the size of regular ones; it worked perfectly)
• 1 smallish zucchini
• 1 smallish yellow squash
• 1 longish red bell pepper
• Few sprigs fresh thyme
• Salt and pepper
• Few tablespoons soft goat cheese, for serving

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Pour tomato puree into bottom of an oval baking dish, approximately 10 inches across the long way. Drop the sliced garlic cloves and chopped onion into the sauce, stir in one tablespoon of the olive oil and season the sauce generously with salt and pepper.
• Trim the ends off the eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash. As carefully as you can, trim the ends off the red pepper and remove the core, leaving the edges intact, like a tube.
• On a mandoline, adjustable-blade slicer or with a very sharp knife, cut the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and red pepper into very thin slices, approximately 1/16-inch thick.
• Atop the tomato sauce, arrange slices of prepared vegetables concentrically from the outer edge to the inside of the baking dish, overlapping so just a smidgen of each flat surface is visible, alternating vegetables. You may have a handful leftover that do not fit.
• Drizzle the remaining tablespoon olive oil over the vegetables and season them generously with salt and pepper. Remove the leaves from the thyme sprigs with your fingertips, running them down the stem. Sprinkle the fresh thyme over the dish.
• Cover dish with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside. (Tricky, I know, but the hardest thing about this.)
• Bake for approximately 45 to 55 minutes, until vegetables have released their liquid and are clearly cooked, but with some structure left so they are not totally limp. They should not be brown at the edges, and you should see that the tomato sauce is bubbling up around them.
• Serve with a dab of soft goat cheese on top, alone, or with some crusty French bread, atop polenta, couscous, or your choice of grain.

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Originally uploaded by zippyandbaker

Grilled Whole Fish

Grilled Whole Fish with Orange and Fennel Salsa

Ingredients:

• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 teaspoons plus 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 3 oranges
• 1 medium fennel bulb, trimmed, cut into matchstick-size strips
• 1/2 medium-size red onion, thinly sliced
•  1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
• Whole fish Bronzini or Snapper

Directions:

Whisk 2 tablespoons oil, vinegar, cilantro, 2 teaspoons soy sauce, ginger and sugar in medium bowl. Cut peel and white pith from oranges; discard. Holding oranges over bowl to catch juices, cut between membranes to release segments into bowl. Add fennel and onion; toss gently. Season with salt and pepper. (Salsa can be made 3 hours ahead. Cover; chill.)

Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Mix 3 tablespoons oil, 1 tablespoon soy sauce and garlic in glass pie dish. Turn fish in oil mixture to coat. Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper. Grill until just opaque in center, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to plates. Spoon salsa over. 

Serve with an arugula, fennel an citrus salad.

Meet the Chefs

NAME: Little Chef (AKA Jake)
POSITION: Key Helper and Sneak Taster and Salt Licker
SIGNATURE DISH: Guacamole
LIKES: Salad, Tacos, Tomatoes, Onions.Cucumbers, Hummus, Salt and Pepper, Pizza
DISLIKES: Chicken Nuggets

NAME: The Guacamole King (AKA Daddy, AKA Greg)
POSITION: Weekday Kitchen Manager
SIGNATURE DISHES: Chicken Marsala, Roasted Chicken, Mexican Chicken
LIKES: Just about everything
DISLIKES: Brussel Sprouts

NAME: Mommy (AKA Amy)
POSITION: Kitchen Manager, Control Freak
SIGNATURE DISH: Ratatouille, Pineapple Upside Down Cake
LIKES: Oatmeal, Brussel Sprouts, Weekday dinners
DISLIKES: Cooks who don't clean as they go

[Picture TK]

Steelers Sausage and Peppers

It's football Sunday, the divisional playoffs, and the Steelers are playing the Jets. Everywhere this week it's been J E T S Jets, Jets, Jets and I'm missing my fellow yinzers. Jake and I are dressed in our Steeler's gear and the Terrible Towels are hung with care, all we need is some good ol' fashioned Steeler's tailgaiting food.

Enter, Sausage and Peppers.
 Present at nearly every family function (weddings, christenings, communions, even funerals) and any and all sports event, Sausage and Peppers are a Pittsburgh staple. Here's the recipe we'll try tonight:

SAUSAGE AND PEPPERS:

Ingredients:

•  1 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp oil1 large onion, sliced
• 1 green pepper, sliced, 1 red pepper sliced
• 1 yellow onion, quartered
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pounds Italian hot sausage, cut into 6 inch lengths
• 3-4 Roma tomatos, pureed
• 1 cup marinara sauce
• Parsley and Basil to taste
• Salt and pepper to taste
• French Buns or other hard rolls

Directions:

• Place a large stock pot over medium heat. Place in butter and olive oil and allow the butter to melt. Place the onions, peppers and garlic, and cook until the onions start to get soft (about 5-7 minutes).
• Place the sausage among the peppers and onions, and allow to brown on both sides. This will take about 10 - 12 minutes altogether.
• While the sausages are browning, puree tomatoes. Combine with marinara and pour the tomato mixture over the sausages, and cover the stock pan. Lower the heat to medium low and allow to simmer for approximately one hour.
• Slice open the bun, add some sauce, peppers and onions, and add the sausage
• Enjoy and LETS GO STEELERS!

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

 Christmas Eve is the feast of all feasts in my Italian family and, we were sad to miss it this year. Instead, we opted for a quiet dinner at home, baked whole Bronzini, with rice and vegetables, followed by Pineapple Upside Down Cake for dessert. In short, the enter meal was perfection, and the cake was so good, so ridiculously good, that it just may become my signature dessert!

I picked this recipe from Epicurious because it was one of the only ones I found that called for fresh, rather than canned pineapples, and it was all done in a cast iron skillet, and anything done in a cast iron skillet turns out good. (see the Carnitas post).

Here's the recipe:

Topping:
* 1/2 medium pineapple, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and cored
* 3/4 stick unsalted butter
* 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

Batter:
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 to 3 teaspoons ground cardamom
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 3/4 stick unsalted butter, softened
* 1 cup granulated sugar
* 2 large eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 tablespoon dark rum
* 1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
* 2 tablespoons dark rum for sprinkling over cake
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Make topping:
Cut pineapple crosswise into 3/8-inch-thick pieces. Melt butter in skillet. Add brown sugar and simmer over moderate heat, stirring, 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Arrange pineapple on top of sugar mixture in concentric circles, overlapping pieces slightly.

Make batter:
Sift together flour, cardamom, baking powder, and salt. Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, then gradually beat in granulated sugar. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla and rum. Add half of flour mixture and beat on low speed just until blended. Beat in pineapple juice, then add remaining flour mixture, beating just until blended. (Batter may appear slightly curdled.)

Spoon batter over pineapple topping and spread evenly. Bake cake in middle of oven until golden and a tester comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let cake stand in skillet 5 minutes. Invert a plate over skillet and invert cake onto plate (keeping plate and skillet firmly pressed together). Replace any pineapple stuck to bottom of skillet. Sprinkle rum over cake and cool on plate on a rack.

Serve cake just warm or at room temperature.

Spice Rubbed Pork Loin

I invested Jake in a little moral support tonight while I put together a spice rub for the pork loing that is currently roasting in our oven. It was delightful to have his company and I know he's learning about cooking as he watches and helps.

Tonight's lesson: Spices!

We're very encouraging of flavor in Jake's food. He loves to grind pepper on his meals (though we draw the line when he asks for it on toast!) and always asks for salt (which we allow him to use sparingly). Lately he's getting to know Paprika. "It's good" he says when I ask him what it tastes like.

Pork Spice Rub:
Brown Sugar, Ground Pepper, Salt, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Cayenne Pepper, Cumin, Paprika and Ginger. Then I chopped up some fresh thyme and Jake helped mix it all together.

Directions:

• Heat oven to 350*/ Cut slits into pork loin and insert a couple cloves of garlic. Rub pork all over with spice rub and let sit.
• Cut up Potato, Apple, and Baby Carrots, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and toss into a roasting pan, parting the mix in the center.
• Place pork loin in center of roasting pan.
• Roast uncovered about 40 minutes (1 lb) until internal temp is 150 degrees.
• Take out and let it sit about 10 minutes. (you can keep the potato, apple, and carrots in and turn the heat up if you want them a little crispy).
  
• Slice and serve
  

Welcome!

There's no denying it, this family LOVES food. One of our favorite activities is planning, cooking, and eating meals together. We make every effort to involve our two-year old son, Jake in the process.

After battling mealtime for the first half of his life due to health issues (see One Bad Bug for more on that), Jake is learning to appreciate the fine art of cooking and enjoying good, flavorful food. With any luck, we may have a budding chef on our hands (though watching Ratatouille at least once or twice a week helps fuel that interest too!)

Looking 4 Recipes seems as good a name as any for a family food blog, but there's a little story behind the name. We hosted Thanksgiving and Christmas recently, and I spent a considerable amount of time in the evenings searching the web for recipes. At one point Jake either asked or heard me say what I was doing and now, whenever I turn on the computer he announces that "Mommy is looking for recipes." Yesterday, when I was looking up the recipe for Carnitas (see post by same name), he grabbed the computer and announced that he wanted to "look for recipes by himself". He's not quite able to navigate the laptop so easily himself, but I let him help press a key or too to call up the recipe. My guess is it won't be too long before he's ready to make the recipes himself too!

This blog will be a place for us to collect our various recipes, document Jake's experiences in the kitchen, and to refer back to again and again when we simply do not know what to cook.

So enjoy and dig in!