Oh gosh, you do bring back the memories. I too cooked my first ratatouille from Mrs. David, away across the Atlantic in Sheridan Square in the West Village. Only the American edition of French Provincial Cooking had not been adapted for American ingredients and American eggplants are huge compared to English aubergines. I had ratatouille for a crowd--would have been a fine contribution to your shindig--and ate it over and over for a week. It does keep well.
I arrived in London in 1969 and just missed the best of the party I think ... My next piece will look at some Soho stories and you’ll have to correct me please if I get it wrong - perhaps you remembered Elizabeth Smart ?
Oh my goodness. I had flashbacks to my youthful days in Paris. Living in a studio in the Latin Quarter and not knowing a thing about food and what to do with it. Ratatouille literally saved my life. No exaggeration. It was the only thing I could cook (a long distance call from Ma talking me through what to do) and I lived off that, and rice.
I love your stories as well as the illustrations Elisabeth, thank you. I remember cooking my first ratatouille, not until the late 70s as Fleetwood was very behind the times for exotic vegetables like peppers, garlic and aubergines. Plenty of fish though as it was a fishing port
Wonderful stories. Ratatouille is one of my absolute favourite dishes, but I've never made it the way you describe, where the vegetables are all cooked separately first and then drained. What is the benefit of that? I'd also be concerned about wasting good olive oil.
Love it! In the days when home economy was a possible subject and non-threatening relatives were allowed into classrooms, I volunteered to give cookery lessons in my grandchildren's school in central London. First off, I arrived with enough flour and instant yeast for everyone to make a loaf, and a bag of leaf-artichokes - similar problem to your aubergine. Bread was a winner - artichokes, a challenge.
Ratatouille always brings memories of a northern schoolyard. The question: what you ‘ave for tea last night? The confusion of kids brought up in meat and two veg households as I tried to explain what an aubergine was.
Oh gosh, you do bring back the memories. I too cooked my first ratatouille from Mrs. David, away across the Atlantic in Sheridan Square in the West Village. Only the American edition of French Provincial Cooking had not been adapted for American ingredients and American eggplants are huge compared to English aubergines. I had ratatouille for a crowd--would have been a fine contribution to your shindig--and ate it over and over for a week. It does keep well.
I arrived in London in 1969 and just missed the best of the party I think ... My next piece will look at some Soho stories and you’ll have to correct me please if I get it wrong - perhaps you remembered Elizabeth Smart ?
Oh my goodness. I had flashbacks to my youthful days in Paris. Living in a studio in the Latin Quarter and not knowing a thing about food and what to do with it. Ratatouille literally saved my life. No exaggeration. It was the only thing I could cook (a long distance call from Ma talking me through what to do) and I lived off that, and rice.
Love, ratatouille, sometimes I add liquid and pour over pasta.
Elizabeth, love your stories and watercolors.
I love your stories as well as the illustrations Elisabeth, thank you. I remember cooking my first ratatouille, not until the late 70s as Fleetwood was very behind the times for exotic vegetables like peppers, garlic and aubergines. Plenty of fish though as it was a fishing port
Wonderful stories. Ratatouille is one of my absolute favourite dishes, but I've never made it the way you describe, where the vegetables are all cooked separately first and then drained. What is the benefit of that? I'd also be concerned about wasting good olive oil.
Elizabeth Smart, novelist? I remember her writing but never met in person.
Love it! In the days when home economy was a possible subject and non-threatening relatives were allowed into classrooms, I volunteered to give cookery lessons in my grandchildren's school in central London. First off, I arrived with enough flour and instant yeast for everyone to make a loaf, and a bag of leaf-artichokes - similar problem to your aubergine. Bread was a winner - artichokes, a challenge.
suits most pastas, doesn't it, Lulu? But best with the short macaroni-type that look like little radiators.
There's something about the combo which sticks in the memory....When were you in Paris, Louis?
The aubergine illustration is divine!
Ratatouille always brings memories of a northern schoolyard. The question: what you ‘ave for tea last night? The confusion of kids brought up in meat and two veg households as I tried to explain what an aubergine was.