Nickles Corn Toasties + Ratatouille

While I'd say at least 80% of what I eat is organic, whole food, and as local as I can get, I have a few hidden vices.  Nickles Corn Toasties, are one of them.  Slightly sweet, toaster sized corn cakes, they are perfect for tucking under a bowl of chili, or in tonight's case under some ratatouille.

The only place I know that reliably carries the Toasties is the Acme market on Route 18 in Montrose.  They used to be located on some oddly placed small wire shelf sandwiched between a couple of the meat coolers, along with packages of their maple bars.  I don't shop Acme very often because I am about 25 years too young, and I am not a big fan of their products/selection.

The organic selection isn't bad, however, and I needed a loaf of Udi's gluten free bread for a client, which they carry frozen, so I happened to be in there the other day and decided to back track and see if there were any Toasties.  They weren't in the old spot, but I found them closer to the bakery and breads where it would seem more logical to keep them to begin with. 

Ratatouille is Italian for 'all I have in the frig are vegetables'.  This week marks the end of both my White House Gardens CSA and my half share of the Brunty Farms CSA.  While there have been times when I felt like I was drowning in veggies (including now), I am sad that the season is over and I am going to have to actually buy things at the market.

I used this recipe, from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine. I really enjoy the magazine and have made lots of recipes from them for myself and for my clients.  The red wine vinegar added a nice touch of acidity which was perfectly set off by the sweet bites of the corn toastie.

I've got some grass fed ground beef thawing for chili, which is my favorite Toastie companion.

For the second night leftovers, I got a couple of sausages from Mustard Seed Market for a little extra protein.

Ratatouille over a Nickles Corn Toastie