Ratatouille is a classic vegetable stew… and my favorite Disney movie of all time! It’s a vegetable medley melody…say that fast 3 times! Ratatouille takes a bit of time to cook but your stove/oven is going to do most of the work. For more on the history of Ratatouille click here.
Are you overloaded with tomatoes from your garden? Wondering what to do with the rest of your summer garden vegetables? Wonder no more…why not make Ratatouille? What could possibly be better than creating a fantastic dish out of all those incredibly fresh vegetables?
Ingredients in Ratatouille
Tomatoes and red peppers are the sauce base for this recipe. Garden fresh vegetables are the key to a great ratatouille. This version includes yellow zucchini, green zucchini, graffiti eggplant, leeks, garlic, onion and fresh herbs.
How to make Ratatouille
Chop the onion and lightly sauté in olive oil until the onion is translucent, then add the garlic and chopped red pepper. Continue to sauté for an additional 5 minutes. Add the medium diced tomatoes, crushed red pepper, salt and sweetener to the onion mixture and cook down for 25 minutes.
Graffiti eggplant is a more consistent, smaller diameter eggplant than the standard we see in most grocery stores. Since this recipe is not a cooked down “stew” version, I chose this eggplant as it is relatively similar in size to the other vegetables. Slice the eggplant to ½ inch rounds. Place in a colander, lightly salt and allow to drain for 20 minutes (salting eggplant before cooking draws moisture out of the eggplant, making it less spongy.) Rinse the eggplant with cold water and pat dry.
While the eggplant is resting, slice the leeks to ½ inch rounds and submerge them in a bowl of cold water. Chop both zucchinis to ½ inch rounds and set aside. Pull the thyme leaves and oregano from the stems and combine with olive oil in a large bowl. Chiffonade the basil and add to the oil.
How to Chiffonade Basil
To chiffonade basil: Tear leaves from the stems. Stack leaves on top of each other starting with the largest leaf and ending with the smallest. Roll up in a “cigar-like” form. Hold the leaves with one hand and cut in thin strips clean through. This method is used to prevent “bruising” of delicate herbs.
Drain the leeks and pat dry. Transfer the tomato sauce to a 14 inch casserole dish. Toss the eggplant, zucchinis and leeks with the olive oil and herb mixture. Layer the vegetables in the dish, alternating between vegetable types, until the dish is full. Cover and bake at 350° for 25 minutes then remove the cover and cook an additional 15 minutes.
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Looking for more great recipes? Check out wild mushroom risotto and chicken and artichokes with pesto sauce.
Wild Mushroom Risotto 
Chicken and artichokes with pesto sauce
Ratatouille
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
- Category: Main dish
- Method: Stove top/Oven
- Cuisine: French
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Ratatouille is a classic French vegetable stew. Garden fresh vegetables are the key to this vegetable medley melody!
Ingredients
For the sauce:
1.5 pounds tomatoes, medium dice
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, small diced
1 sweet red pepper, seeded and medium diced
2 teaspoons crushed red peppers
1 tablespoon Swerve
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
For the vegetables:
2 graffiti eggplant, sliced to rounds
2 green zucchini, sliced to rounds
2 yellow zucchini, sliced to rounds
1 leek, sliced to rounds
1 pound tomatoes, sliced to rounds
Herb dressing for the vegetables:
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh basil, chiffonade
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 tablespoon fresh oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
Instructions
For the sauce:
- Place a large, non-reactive skillet on medium heat and add the olive oil.
- Add the diced onion and sauté until it becomes translucent.
- Add the minced garlic and chopped red pepper continue to sauté an additional 5 minutes.
- Add the medium diced tomatoes, crushed red pepper, salt and sweetener to the onion mixture and cook down for 25 minutes.
- Transfer to a 14 inch casserole dish.
For the vegetables:
- Chop eggplant to 1/2 inch rounds, salt and place in colander to drain for 20 minutes.
- Rinse eggplant and pat dry.
- Slice the leeks to ½ inch rounds and submerge them in a bowl of cold water for 10 minutes.
- Drain the leeks and pat dry.
- Chop both zucchinis to ½ inch rounds and set aside.
- Chop tomatoes to rounds and set aside.
Herb dressing for the vegetables:
- Pull the thyme leaves and oregano from the stems and combine with olive oil in a large bowl.
- Chiffonade the basil, add to oil.
- Add salt and mix well.
All together now:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Toss the vegetables with the herb dressing.
- Layer the vegetables on top of the tomato mixture, alternating vegetable types.
- Cover and bake for 25 minutes. Remove cover and bake additional 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven. Serve.
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