Ratatouille in a heat wave

 I have been craving ratatouille and once the summer and the fresh vegetables arrived, it was time to make it. My real craving was actually for confit byaldi, where vegetables are baked ever so slowly until they become unbearably tasty. 

Heating up the ratatouille, the day after

So... I got the vegetables, I forgot to buy tomatoes, and suddenly we had a heat wave. Our AC cannot keep us as is, so running an oven for hours was not an option. The craving, however, refused to dissipate, so I started to think what to do. I didn't want to simply make a stove-top ratatouille. It's tasty for sure, but it can't hold a candle to confit byaldi. How do I cook vegetables more slowly then, was the question. I remembered that my Instant Pot had a slow cooker function, and I verified that I could set the cooking temperature - the low setting was at 185F, exactly the temperature used for cooking vegetables in sous vide. In comparison to cooking in the oven, the slow cooker option would sacrifice evaporation that intensifies the flavors, but at least the vegetables would cook at the right temperature that should make the dish quite tasty. 

I gave it a shot, and the result was quite good on the first day, and outright excellent the second day - not uncommon for such dishes. It is quite a find, especially in a hot summer when one really doesn't want to add extra heat to the house.

I still want to make confit byaldi - it has been several years since I made it several times, and all I have are a good looking picture and a memory of unbelievable intensity of flavors. I hope I remember to record what I do so that the next time I don't have to look for a recipe.

Confit byaldi

Ingredients:

• 2 cups home made tomato sauce
• Optional: 1 TBS miso
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped finely
• 1-2 lb cored sweet peppers, sliced thinly. I was lucky to get corno di toro.
• 2 medium sized zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch by 1/4 inch pieces
• 1/2 of sizeable eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch by 1/4 inch pieces
• salt to taste
• olive oil, a few TBS, enought to generously cover the bottom of the instant pot
• a few thyme sprigs

Method:

1. Cut all the vegetables and the onion
2. Set Instant pot to saute at medium heat, add the oil, and wait for the pot to indicate the temperature was reached
3. Add the chopped onion and a pinch of salt. Stir and sautee until the onion becomes translucent.
4. Add the sliced peppers, another small pinch of salt, and sautee the mixture until the peppers soften slightly.
5. Add the tomato sauce, thyme, and, if using, miso. Stir well and wait for the mixture to come to boil.
6. Add the zucchini and eggplant, mix well and, using a cooking spoon, level the top of the vegetable mixture.
7. Cancel the saute function, set the Instant pot to "slow cook", and choose low temperature. Set the cooking time to 4-6 hours (I only had 4 hours, so that was what I used) and start the cooking.
8. Cover the Instant Pot, either with a glass lid if you have it, or use the usual pressure-cooking lid, but set the valve on ventilation
9. After 4 hours (or 6 or whatever time you set), check for seasoning and add more salt if needed. 
10. Eat right away and/or store in the fridge overnight, in a covered dish. Reheated ratatouille definitely improves upon the fresh one.