Rachael's Grilled Ratatouille

Grill baby, grill!

I will preface this post by saying two things: 1) The word "ratatouille" is damn hard to spell but 2) the challenge is what makes this so damn tasty.

I liked eggplant better this time around ... I don't know if it was grilling it (everything is better slightly charred?) or the combination with the rest of the ingredients ...

I got this recipe from Rachael Ray - she's no Ina Garten, but she's another guilty pleasure.


Grilled Ratatouille
by Rachael Ray

Ingredients:

* 3 large tomatoes, halved crosswise
* 2 bell peppers, quartered
* 2 zucchini, thickly sliced lengthwise
* 1 eggplant, thickly sliced lengthwise
* 1 onion, thickly sliced crosswise
* 1 head garlic, halved crosswise
* 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
* Salt and pepper
* 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, sliced
* 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar


Directions:

1. Preheat a grill to medium-high. On a large baking sheet, arrange the tomatoes, bell peppers, zucchini, eggplant, onion and garlic in a single layer. Brush with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
2. Transfer the vegetables to the grill and cook, turning once, until just tender and slightly charred, about 5 minutes for the tomatoes, 8 minutes for the peppers, zucchini and eggplant and 10 minutes for the onions and garlic. Return to the baking sheet and let stand until cool enough to handle.
3. Chop the peppers, zucchini, eggplant and onions into ½-inch pieces and transfer to a large bowl. (Be careful not to burn the crap out of your hand like I did ...) Squeeze out the garlic cloves, finely chop and add to the bowl. Working over the bowl, slip off and discard the tomato skins and remove the cores, then crush the tomatoes with your hands and add to the bowl. Add the olives and vinegar, season with salt and pepper and toss.