, a column where we talk you through the process of making the dishes and drinks we can make with our eyes closed.
I know I’m not alone in my feverish acquisition of produce when the season starts to wane. The key to avoiding overwhelm is quickly turning your haul into simple dishes that are not only delicious, but also take up less fridge space. And where better to turn for inspo than to Mediterranean kitchens, which are long on bounty but historically short on cold storage? You already know ratatouille, the French classic, but now I’d like to introduce you to its Catalàn cousin: escalivada.
Escalivada is a non-recipe recipe: whole sweet peppers, small eggplants, and thickly sliced rings of sweet onion are slicked with olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, and slow-roasted until soft and yielding, then splashed with more olive oil and glugs of nutty sherry vinegar. The beauty here is that the quantities are flexible, and you can adjust how much of each vegetable to use based on whatever it is you need to use up.
Yesterday was Farmers Market day. Today, my neighbor is grilling dozens of ears of corn! I think I need to drop by and say hello!