Wonton Gluttony

Almost 5 years ago, when food blogs were still kind of newish, I had the idea that I would start one with some friends called "Wonton Gluttony." Our "slant" (since we were all Asian Americans) was that all the contributors would learn to cook traditional dishes from his/her ethnic heritage and post photos, recipes, and stories on the site. Besides learning to make some good food, we would also get a chance to reconnect with our family members and our heritage on a gut level (pun intended). I even made a graphic for this supposed blog in my computer art class but I don't think I managed to save it anywhere still accessible. Alas, this venture did not happen, mostly due to inertia and the fact that my father cannot wait for me to cook anything. Instead, he has to have all the stuff bought, prepped, and almost completely cooked by the time I get to his house. This makes it hard to figure out precisely what he did since he usually doesn't know exactly what cut of meat he's using or how much of it he used. Nor does he keep track of precisely how much of an ingredient he used to marinate or cook things so that can also make replicating his recipes hard. Insisting that he allow me to shop, watch him prep, and cook the whole thing, would probably be too torturous for all involved so thus, Wonton Gluttony lives still only in my mind.

Nonetheless, I have been cooking in the last 5 years, just not learning much about what my Dad cooks since I have him to do that, and with all the summer veg in farmer's markets and and at the farm needing to be eaten, I've gotten to try out some new dishes. The most recent one was inspired by the desire to cook the leeks that I'd planted last fall. In looking around for a recipe that uses them, I came across this one for ratatouille, which is perfect since I had been thinking about this dish ever since watching Disney's Ratatouille on the plane home from Paris last winter.



Ratatouille (adapted from Eating Well)

4 Tb olive oil
2 C sliced leeks or young onions
1/2 C white wine
1 tsp salt and pepper
1 15 oz can of Cananelli beans
2 large tomatoes, sliced 1/4" thick
1 zucchini, sliced 1/4" thick
1 small eggplant, sliced 1/4" thick
1/4 C shredded Parmesan
1 tsp dried summer herbs (marjoram, thyme, oregano) or 1 Tb fresh

Preheat over to 425 degrees. Sautee leeks (and onions if using) in 2 Tb of olive oil on medium heat and cover. After about 5-7 minutes, when leeks are soft and wilted, add in the white wine and salt and pepper and cook a minute more until liquid has mostly been cooked away.

Put the leek mixture in a 11X7 baking dish and top with the drained, cooked Canellini beans. This is optional but I found the beans gave the dish some heartiness and nice flavor.

Layer the tomatoes, eggplants, and zucchini over the top of the leek and bean mixture, overlapping each of the slices. When done, drizzle olive oil over the top and then sprinkle salt and pepper over the top.




Put the dish into the oven and bake for about an hour and 15 minutes at 425F. At the hour mark, sprinkle the Parmesan and then herbs over the top. It's a gorgeous dish and easy, healthy, and delicious.