Author Notes
Spending a few days at a beach town by myself, cooking for one, has been liberating. I walk to the fresh produce stand, pick a few veggies grown locally, and go back to create stove top meals, since the oven does not work. Yesterday I made a delicious fish stew that was ready in 15 minutes. Today I made this dish - a concoction of traditional ratatouille vegetables with a surprise of fresh corn and minimal seasonings. And I have leftovers for a great egg scramble breakfast or lunch tomorrow. Yay!
NB: The use and preparation of the red bell pepper is optional. If you don't feel like using it in your ingredient list, the dish is still very good. —Bevi
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Ingredients
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1
red bell pepper (optional)
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3 tablespoons
olive oil
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1/2
onion, roughly chopped
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1
large clove garlic, chopped
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1/2 teaspoon
crushed red pepper
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1
small eggplant, skin on, diced
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1
small yellow squash or zucchini, quartered lengthwise and then roughly chopped
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1 teaspoon
lemon thyme
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1
ear sweet corn, cut off the cob
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juice of one half lemon
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3 ounces
feta cheese, crumbled roughly
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salt and pepper to taste
Directions
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Using tongs, char the red pepper directly over the stove top flame. I set my pepper right on the burner; and turned as the pepper nicely charred. Remove from the stove top flame and place in a paper bag to cool while you prepare the vegetables.
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Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the onions and garlic and saute until they start to sweat. Add the crushed red pepper and stir for 1 minute. Add the eggplant and continue to saute - you want all the vegetables to be lightly and beautifully browned. Then add the squash. Continue to brown, and then add the thyme. After a little more browning, add the salt and pepper to taste. (Remember that the feta will add more saltiness.)
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While the vegetables are sauteing, remove the charred skin from the red pepper, but allow a little of the char to remain on the pepper. Dice, and add to the vegetable mixture.
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Add the lemon juice. Stir everything together.
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Add the sweet corn, and immediately follow with the feta cheese. Stir the mixture very briefly to allow the cheese to melt slightly.
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Serve heated or at room temperature - it's nice both ways. Serve with a nice bread and glass of white wine. This is a very satisfying meal for one person, and delicious for two with another small side dish.
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