Since the beginning of the year, we have been watching the movie Ratatouille (in French!) as a way to learn about French culture, particularly the importance of food in the lives of French citizens.
We decided to make 2 versions of ratatouille, a traditional peasant stew, and an upclassed, nouvelle-cuisine confit version like the one that the rat chef Remy makes in the film.
WE. HAD. A. BLAST.
I started the night before, preparing the base sauce for the confit. I roasted yellow and red peppers in the oven, then put them in a Ziploc bag to make the skins loosen so they could be peeled off. The chopped peppers were then added to the carrots, onions and garlic sautéing in the pan. Add a can of tomatoes and then mix it all up in the blender. Word to the wise: make sure the blender is properly screwed together before turning it on.
The next day, we got our chef on. These kids were amazing chefs! They worked so well together. We had 1 station for the confit (merci Hailie for bringing in a mandoline!), where the kids spread the peperinade on the bottom of the pan, then sliced up zucchini, eggplant and tomatoes and fanned them in a spiral around the pan.
The kids at the herb station made a chiffonade of basil and oregano, then mixed it with olive oil to drizzle over the confit.
Doesn't it look delicious? We could have eaten it raw!
The last group had the most time consuming job. They had to chop up zucchini, eggplant and onion, sauté each one individually and then add it to my crock pot. Ratatouille is not traditionally made in a crock pot, but I thought this would be the easiest way to do it at school.
Crock pot turned on, confit in the oven at 280 for the afternoon and staff and students with watering mouths walking around the school.
Today, it was time to eat! Like most homemade soups and stews, ratatouille is better the next day, after the flavours have had time to blend and compliment each other. I bought some freshly baked baguettes and butter, and said bon appetite!
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