Ratatouille Part Deux

Last night I was determined to actually cook dinner. And not "cook" one of my Trader Joes means that I have survived off of for the last year of my life. When I was in transition and searching for housing last October Ben graciously hosted a dinner party (pretty sure it was to provide distraction from what was going on in my life...so thank you Ben!) and made this delish Ratatouille recipe from Smitten Kitchen. On a side note I need to start using more of the recipes from SK, as the ones I have tried are delish and nothing too complicated for my cooking skills and itty bitty kitchen. This recipe for St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake is calling to me in my late night IambloggingandIwantsomethingsweetbecausewhenyouareanadultyoucaneatwheveryouwantinthecomfortofyourownbedandnoonewilleverknow

state.

Anyways. Back to my Ratatouille story. Ben made this for me and then I made it for cohabs Erin and Paul when I first moved into my new place. They were the first people I had over for food in my new apartment and the other day I was thinking how good that dinner had turned out. So I made it again.

A few lessons:

1) when you are too tired to cook. You are probably going to stop reading the directions and therefore leave out an ingredient. Luckily with this I was able to improvise and throw the ingredient in later.

2) Just because there weren't any left overs last time (when you served three people dinner) DOES NOT mean you need to make a full dish of something for my single eating self. To put it lightly...I have baked veggies overflowing in tupperwear.

3) The goat cheese is what makes it.

4) Also splurge on the thyme, it really does add all the flavor that is characteristic of Ratatouille.

5) Find a rat to sit on your head while you cook. It will make the stress of the week melt away.

And finally. This is one of the most visually appealing things I have ever made in my cooking adventures. It is simply beautiful with the layers of color. It makes me really lust for a fancy knife set so I could cut my red bell pepper in whole slices rather than butchering uncivilized like with my IKEA knives. But nonetheless...it was a beautiful meal: