Roasted Vegetable Ragu

A rich, meaty ragu without meat? You betcha!



When you can put your hands on a fresh eggplant and some bell pepper, you have the makings for a rich, hearty sauce that's fantastic over pasta. There are tomatoes inside, but if you don't have fresh tomatoes just yet, this is perfect for you--it uses canned products.



What's extra-great about this, too, is leftovers can be frozen in ice-cube portions for adding to soups, stews and chili, which works especially nicely if you have picky eaters around the house like I do! (Mr.W, I'm talking to you!)

It's very, very simple: just cut up an eggplant (skin on) along with 2 or more bell peppers (any color). You can also add an onion or two if you like. Toss everything with olive oil, salt and pepper and bake in a 350*F oven until the edges start getting golden brown. Don't worry if they brown too much--it'll still work out as long as they're not completely burned.



Once your vegetables have been roasted they can go in the refrigerator or even freezer if you're not ready to use them right away. When you are ready, however, dump them in a big pot with a 28-ounce can of peeled tomatoes and any additional ingredients you love. I use dried parsley, oregano, basil and some minced garlic, along with a tablespoon or so of my secret ingredient: sundried tomato puree. If you don't keep this stuff around the house you can use tomato paste, but I find this has a lot more concentrated flavor, and the tube convenience is fantastic. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and puree using an immersible hand blender, or process in batches in a blender or food processor to puree.



Simple, and so good.





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Onion and Zucchini Galette with Balsamic Reduction

They say to never serve a new recipe to friends... but who else should I test my experiments on? Mr.W? I'm lucky if he tastes the tiniest crumb. No, I need real people who will grab a big mouthful.

So I serve experiments to guests and bring them to parties. This is one of my experiments--and fortunately, it turned out great. The photo above may be a bit deceiving--it's actually quite large; I started cutting it before I remembered to take a photo, but afterward it was cut into tiny appetizer-sized wedges to bring to a party at a friend's house.

Onion and Zucchini Galette with Balsamic Reduction

1 cup balsamic vinegar

olive oil
4 small zucchini (about 2 cups), sliced thin (about 1/4" thick)
1/4 teaspoon dried sage leaves
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 cup butter

3 cups sliced onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

basic pie crust for two single crust, prepared (I do my own crust by eye, but you could use two refrigerator pie crusts, pressed together and rolled into a bigger circle or oblong.)

In a small saucepan, simmer balsamic, stirring occasionally, until reduced by 3/4. You should have 1/4 cup when it's finished. Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, combine sliced zucchini, sage and thyme. Drizzle generously with olive oil and toss with hands until each slice has some oil and herbs. Transfer to a baking sheet and spread out into one single layer (you may need two sheet pans--I did); bake in a preheated 350*F oven about 15 minutes, or until hot. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

In a large skillet, melt butter; add chopped onion and saute on low until caramelized, stirring occasionally. (This took me about 30 minutes.) Remove onions with a slotted spoon to a plate. You'll have some buttery goodness still left in your skillet, so add a little olive oil to that and saute your garlic until fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Place your rolled-out crust on an oiled baking sheet and top with the garlic-butter-olive oil mixture. Spread around with a spoon or pastry brush to get it onto every inch of that pastry. Leaving a 2-inch border all around, spread onions on pastry. Top with zucchini slices.

Carefully bring dough border up and around onion and zucchini filling, folding decoratively as you go.

Bake galette in a preheated 350*F oven until golden, about 30-45 minutes. Remove from oven and drizzle exposed vegetables with balsamic glaze. Slice and serve warm.

This is great for a vegetarian side, and could be vegan if you use shortening for your pie crust and caramelize your onions in olive oil instead of butter.