Ratatouille

Imagine this: you have your own chef for the day. That's what happened to us, last Saturday -- Jean Phillip, chef at Cafe l'Ardoise (next to Cafe Van Gogh) escorted us the the open market (ouvert marche -- the biggest one in Provence, and we heard rumors maybe the biggest in all of Europe), helped us pick our fresh ingredients, and taught us how to cook a storm in our little cuisine.

Ingredients:

2 red onions

2 shallots

1 green bell pepper

1 red bell pepper

2 zucchini

2 tomatoes

1 eggplant

4 cloves of garlic

2 TB of cilantro

Olive Oil

Preparation:

Dice vegetables. Slice bell peppers thin, and remove all seeds. Put veggies in a pot of hot oil and sautee in this order: (each for about 5 minutes before adding the next ingredient)

1. garlic, onions, shallots

2. sliced peppers

3. chunks of zucchini

4. chopped cilantro

5. diced tomatoes

6. eggplant squares

7. keep on adding oil, salt, pepper, and seasoning (parsley, bay leaves, etc.) to taste

Serve with rice, and your choice of meat. Jean-Phillip cooked Pave du Toro for us, but Jesse thinks chicken would go nicely. As an appetizer we had a goat cheese melange, wrapped in fried eggplant pieces (recipe to follow - when we have reliable internet).

Eat:

Jesse and the chef, Jean-Phillipe, enjoying a glass of wine as they cook: