Ratatouille with Grilled Chicken

Annnnnd... WE'RE BACK!

Today, yesterday, and the day before that, it has been raining in Boston. The baseball game was rained out, the grass and trees and flowers are getting much-needed (but still very gloomy) water. Should be looking up for the weekend, which is what counts. And this past weekend, it was warm and dry enough to once again fire up the ghetto-grill (our camping grill, being used until we buy a real one) and make some grilled chicken pieces.

Let's go to Boston Chef #2 for the chicken, before heading to BC#1 for the Ratatouille...

We had a sampler pack of three thighs, three drums, and three wings that I brined for a couple hours before taking out, rinsing, and putting back in the fridge for another 1/2 hour for it to rest and relax (tough life, chicken pieces)... A gentle salt, pepper, paprika seasoning to the outside and they went onto a high grill for about 4 minutes/side before turning the heat to low and covering for another 15 minutes or so. Lots of flare-ups from the fat, but leaving the cover on pretty much contained them, cut down cooking time, AND gave the chicken great flavor.

Now over to Boston Chef #1 with the Ratatouille...

By complete chance, we had all the ingredients for a veggie dish that I’ve been wanting to try out for quite some time – Ratatouille. Since the other Boston Chef was in heaven because he finally had a chance to grill up some chicken outside, it was on me to prepare the accompanying dish inside. The stars were aligned that day, my friends, for I found an eggplant in the back of the refrigerator. I bought it on a whim a few days earlier with nothing in mind and I had forgotten about it until now. Low and behold I also had zucchini on hand... looks like ratatouille tonight!



All veggies are cut up into 1 inch chunks: medium eggplant, 2 small zucchinis, 1 large onion, 5 plum tomatoes. (I would have thrown in a green or red pepper if I’d had one.) Toss the veggies with some olive oil, 2 tbs tomato sauce, fresh thyme from the back porch, garlic powder, salt & pepper. We cooked this French Provencal casserole in enameled cast iron dish at 400-425F for about 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Sprinkled with a little parmesan cheese before serving. It was better than I expected and definitely will cook this up when entertaining!

Before cooking:


And after, with the chicken... LETS EAT!