Ciambotta (or Giambotta) con Salsicce

Ciambotta is a vegetable stew popular in Southern Italy, particularly in Calabria. It is similar to ratatouille which is made with eggplant, summer squash, sweet peppers and tomatoes. My Ciambotta has a few additional items that are not traditional (mushrooms, sausage) plus the very traditional ones potatoes which I'm not especially fond of in a tomato dish) which also can vary depending on the season and what one has on hand.

 

In the photo below, clockwise from top left: 2 cubed eggplants, sliced portobello mushrooms, fresh peeled garden tomatoes, chopped onion and sweet peppers, chopped garlic and crushed hot red peppers, 3 medium cubed zucchini, center stage 2 diced potatoes.

 

 Whoops, almost forgot the parsley and sweet basil

 

Also added some sweet grape tomatoes and of course extra virgin olive oil, 1 can of tomato paste, one can of diced tomatoes, salt, pepper, a splash of red wine

 

Simmer the  garlic and hot pepper in the olive oil 

Add the onion and sweet peppers and saute for several minutes

Add the potatoes and continue to cook on medium heat

Add the zucchini

The crushed fresh tomatoes and grape tomatoes went in next

Then parsley and plenty of basil

In a separate skillet saute the eggplant in olive oil. Note: eggplant will soak up oil like a sponge so it will be necessary to add a bit more olive oil, but just enough to get the bottom of the pan slick.

Saute on medium to low heat until the eggplant begins to brown slightly.

 

 Add the eggplant to the ciambotta

Add more olive oil to the skillet and saute the mushrooms. Mushrooms will soak up oil but not as much as the eggplant. 

 

When the mushrooms give up some juices, add a little black pepper and a splash of red wine

Add half the can of tomato paste and let it simmer on low for a few minutes.

 

Transfer the mushrooms to the ciambotta and add the rest of the tomato paste and a full paste can of water to the skillet. (Note: I only added half a can of paste at first because I thought a full can might be too much...but decided the whole can would work).

 

Saute some Italian sausages; I then sliced them and browned the slices a little before adding them to the ciambotta.

 

Here is the ciambotta simmering on low for the next hour or so. This dish will be even better tomorrow or portions can can be frozen for another day. A big loaf of Italian bread and a glass of wine. Buon appetito!

You can also serve it over pasta, but the crusty bread is quite enough for me.

 I use a heat diffuser under my big pot to keep it heating evenly without burning.

 

Homemade Italian Bread of course...gotta soak up all that good sauce.

A little parmegiano reggiano.

Pollo alla Giardiniere - Gardener's Chicken

While Chicken alla cacciatore may be hunter's style, as a gardener, I've adopted the basic recipe to reflect what's currently abundant in my garden - green beans, yellow squash, peppers, basil, parsley, tomatoes. This gardener's chicken recipe stretches a few chicken parts into a big pot of stew.

The recipe is consistent with our style of eating (or the style which we try to adhere to) which stresses an abundance of fresh vegetables over meat and starches. Perhaps you would use more chicken or fewer vegetables. Which is perfectly OK as proportions are optional.

I started by frying/cooking four chicken legs and thighs in a large skillet with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, garlic powder. Saute the chicken and cook, covered, until the chicken is cooked through and can be removed from the bone.

Remove the chicken parts from the pan, and bone the chicken if you like (just makes it easier to eat).

Drain the grease from the pan and add a little olive oil, a large sliced onion, then add 4-6 Cubanelle or Bell green peppers, cut up. Cook a bit, ten minutes or so, stirring occasionally.

Wash and clean some green beans - here's a mixture that I picked today including flat Roma, stringless green beans, slender Italians. Add to the pan.

 Add some fresh basil

And some fresh parsley.

Add some chopped celery, some carrots, chopped fresh garden tomatoes to the beans and onions and peppers. Cook covered on low heat for a bit - maybe five to ten minutes, or till heated through - don't let the veggies over-cook. Add salt to taste - easy though - stay healthy.

 Dice up a couple of cloves of garlic and add to a different skillet with some olive oil.

Cut op and add a yellow squash or a green zucchini squash. Cook for  a few minutes, stirring frequently.

Combine everything into a big stew pot. Add some peeled plum tomatoes.

Let the stew simmer together for maybe thirty to forty-five minutes or so, so the tomatoes cook into a light sauce, but not so much as to turn the veggies into mush. It's nice to have a bit of crunch left in the beans and squash. Season with salt, pepper to taste while cooking. Easy on the salt.

Serve with a little crusty bread or rolls.

Dinner's ready!

Ratatouille - From Garden to Table

This is the season for garden vegetables in New England. In the micro-climate that is our backyard, on the north side of Fall Mountain and about 700 feet above sea level means that our garden is about two to three weeks late in producing ripe veggies. But now the tomatoes are at their peak and the eggplant and zucchini and peppers have been coming strong for about three weeks now.

I've done ratatouille here before but here are some photos of my last batch:

Dice up the veggies: you can use a combination of yellow and green squash and more or fewer green peppers and hot peppers. Use what your garden gives you. Mushrooms are a nice addition, but I didn't have any on hand this day.

Eggplant, zucchini, green pepper,
hot pepper, onion, garlic,tomatoes,
parsley, basil, salt, pepper, olive oil

This was an extra large batch so I sauteed the garlic, onion and pepper first in about 1/4 cup of olive oil, then added only the eggplant.

Eggplant will soak up the oil like a sponge. But let it cook over high heat until it gets a bit tender,

I removed the eggplant, onion and peppers and added a little more oil to the skillet to make room for the squash

Then I added the zucchini, the tomatoes, the salt, parsley, basil and cooked everthing over high heat until the zucchini began to soften and the tomatoes cooked down some.

The tomatoes and zucchini release a lot of liquid. I wanted my ratatouille to be less soupy so I removed the veggies after they were cooked and let the tomato sauce cook down.

Then I returned the eggplant, pepper and onion to the skillet first because that had the flavors of onion and garlic that I wanted to impart to the sauce

And then the zucchini

And let the whole thing cook a bit more.

Served alone with crusty bread and some Italian sausages or serve over pasta without meat for a great vegetarian dish; I'd like to try it with a can of beans mixed in instead of sausage as we are trying to eat less animal protein in our overall diet.

My ratatouille is a bit chunky and not over cooked, you may like yours more cooked and with less of a bite.

I had enough to freeze a portion for another meal - probably a quick meal for when we are in our RV at PTown and have spent a day at the beach.