Wednesday 14 March 2007

The odd cod

We had been cat-sitting for my sister-in-law since Wednesday last week, and I expected her over for dinner yesterday when she came by to retrieve her cat, Plume, so I did the unthinkable - cooking on a Tuesday! She's a real dearie, so I wasn't too ready to foist on her my leftovers from the WFF. Besides, I only had a few dishes of gnocchi gratin left (the HK/S'pore noodles and beans thoran disappeared very quickly since I packed them for lunch in the office, and I still can't bring myself to finish the last glass of tiramisu because then I'd have to make some more!), and deemed that too stodgy for her.

I got word during the day that she'd changed her mind and would come by while I was at work, but it was too late since I'd already defrosted a bunch of grilled Mediterranean vegetables from my magic deep (in all senses of the word) freezer, and came up with this Ratatouille & Chiquetaille pie:

Oooh, that must look like a mouthful, so let's see that again: Ratatouille ( rah-tah-too-y) and Chiquetaille (sheek-tie) pie. There! :) Simple? Well, so was this!

Calling it ratatouille involves a certain measure of embellishment here, for I merely used my favourite grilled vegetables - assorted capsicums, eggplant and zucchini - and smothered them with a mixture of heavy cream and ready-made bottled tomato sauce. Cheating again, I hear you say.. ;-) More dishonesty coming your way...

I'd had cod chiquetaille a couple of times before, but have never attempted to make my own, so once again, I bowed down to the idol otherwise known as convenience. :) While I'm at it, hey, even the pie crust didn't spring forth from my toil!

How to: Dress pie dish with flaky or shortcrust pastry, poke holes in the base with a fork and arrange chunks of roasted vegetables in a single layer. Mix a bottle of pasta sauce with a few tablespoons of thick cream (I like it rich, to counter the acidity of the tomatoes), spoon over vegetables and scatter mounds of chiquetaille onto sauce. Bake at 180°C until the pastry turns golden and some of the chiquetaille browns and crisps.

Variations: I can see roasted garlic doing very well in a pie like this!

Body count: Ratatouille - 0, Chiquetaille - 200g

13 comments:

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

Pretty dramatic results for a simple recipe!

eastcoastlife said...

wow! Have to try this. Surprise my hubby. hehe...

Anonymous said...

Greatblog with lovely dishes!

Shilpa said...

Hi Lydia & ECL, thanks! :) Actually, I still haven't tasted it, so don't know how good it is! Smells lovely, though!

Shilpa said...

Hi Lera, welcome and thanks for leaving a comment! :) Take your time to browse! I hope you find something you like!

Bong Mom said...

Lucky sis-in-law, did she finally have the pie ?
What is Cod "whatever" ?
I can have this as it seems to be tast but shall keep mum if someone asked "What I had" :)

Shilpa said...

Dear Sandeepa,

No, my sis-in-law didn't get to eat it, she came by too early! :)

Haha, that cod whatever is a simple preparation of rehydrated dried salted cod, onions, parsley and garlic, recipe here:

http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/?action=recette_show&id=753&lg=en

I finally had a slice for lunch today, and it wasn't bad at all, but not very filling, so I had to eat other stuff as well :) I think I'll update the post with a picture of a slice! Cheers!

WokandSpoon said...

The dish sounds pretty healthy - with all those veggies in there!

Claude-Olivier Marti said...

Ah tu fais du cat-sitting, je vais te laisser celui de ma coloc et quand je reviens le chercher tu me fais aussi a manger ;-)

Amitiés
Claude

Anonymous said...

All these "rat" and "chiq"..hv never tasted before - or maybe I had, but did not know the name! But you made it sound so easy leh!

Shilpa said...

Hi Wokandspoon, it was indeed a light tart - I got hungry again soon after eating it! :)

Salut Claude, ah non, pitié! Tu peux venir manger, mais pas de chat!! :) La garde de Plume a été la première de ma vie, et bien que je pensais aimer les chats, c'était vraiment pas du gateau! ;-) Et les poils sur mon canapé!

Hey Tiger, if you've ever eaten a combination of the vegetables I mentioned with onions and tomatoes, then I think we can safely say you've had ratatouille! :) You can even find it in Singapore in cans!

Melting Wok said...

one healthy tart eh :)interesting, like italians use of anchovies, but Shilpa brings out her cods hehe :)

Shilpa said...

Hi MW, was just using what I had on hand... Would have used anchovies, but didn't have any! :( Would have liked to add olives, but hubby hates them (he hates a lot of things that I like, including anchovies, btw). Tough life, huh? ;-)