Obsessive, much?

Ok, fine. I obsess. A little. Ok, fine. A lot. When I see something I like a lot, I tend to pine about it for a while. And some might call this obsessive, considering I'll think about it - oh - a few hundred times a day.

Most recently, this happened to me about an video featuring a scrumptious dish of ratatouille that they serve at a small bistro in Brooklyn, NY. Now, this wasn't just any ratatouille. This ratatouille was topped with olive oil, salt, and cheese - burrata, to be exact. The image of the creamy cheese melting over the roasted, herbed vegetables stayed with me for days.

I finally broke down and decided I needed to make a version of this RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND. (This, my friends, is how obsession works - it's a slow boil for a while and then it just bubbles up into full-on fury.) I had some of the ingredients on hand, but otherwise, a quick trip to the grocery store was required for some additional supplies.

In my own head, I was already planning a trip to the cheese shop for burrata - which I was convinced that they would not have at the standard market. But, I was wrong - they did! It was far from amazing burrata, but it was quite palatable, and it was simply more evidence of how varied the offerings are becoming at the grocery.

So, you know how I love the world's easiest recipes, right? Yup, this is another one. You simply chop all of your vegetables to about the same size - one eggplant, two zucchini, three plum tomatoes, a red pepper, and a small onion. Oh, and mince two cloves of garlic - you know, smaller than the veggies.

Toss all of the vegetables in a bowl with some olive oil, salt, and pepper. At this point, I also put in my dry herbs - basil and parsley - because, unfortunately, I didn't have fresh. If you do have fresh, just toss them in at the very end, when the vegetables are cooked.

Layer all of the vegetables onto a jelly roll pan, either coated with cooking spray or covered with a Silpat liner. If you want to go deep, deep into the blog archives, you can read here about my Silpat obsession. Bake for 45 minutes at 450 degrees, giving the vegetables a turn every 15 minutes. And that's it for the cooking... how I love easy, delicious things.

Dish a few heaping spoonfuls of the ratatouille into bowls, and give it a drizzle with good olive oil and sprinkle of good sea salt. Finally, top it with a portion of the chewy, creamy burrata!

Dig in and feel free of your obsession. You know, until the next amazing, unforgettable, must have it thing catches you eye.