Summer is here in Texas and while we are not so excited about the heat, we are loving the summer veggies and fruits right now. Loads of summer squash, tomatoes, melons, and stone fruits – it’s our favorite time of year for produce! Our CSA box this week featured beautiful zucchini, yellow squash, and eggplants, so immediately the idea to make a ratatouille came to mind. Ratatouille is a French provençal vegetable stew typically made with zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, onions, and peppers. It’s a humble dish that’s often prepared as a side, but when using great quality produce can truly shine as the main dish.

Our version of ratatouille differs slightly from the traditional preparation. We add potato to the mix of veggies to create a more filling meal, and we omitted the bell peppers. You can adapt our recipe to use the vegetables you prefer, just know that in order to truly get the flavor of the vegetables to shine, it is recommended to cook each vegetable on its own. This takes quite a bit of time, so we focus mostly on the vegetables that take longer to cook through – the potatoes and the eggplant. If you have the time, you can definitely cook all the remaining veggies separately as well.

Another helpful tip is using a good quality mandolin slicer! It is so much easier than hand slicing the vegetables. This is the one we received on our wedding registry and still use regularly. Just be sure not to slice your finger off!

Once all the vegetables have been cooked through, you arrange them however you like in a large casserole dish filled with a simple tomato sauce. We love the spiral look and chose to arrange ours this way, but it was a bit more time consuming. Let it simmer for about 20 minutes covered and 20 minutes uncovered and then top with some fresh parsley.

For a vegan/vegetarian dish, simply serve with some steamed rice. Also pairs great with a piece of a French baguette and a glass of cold Provençal rose!!

Ratatouille

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr

Servings: 4 Servings

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: French

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

Ratatouille Ingredients

• 1 Medium Eggplant Sliced into thin rounds
• 3 Vine Ripened Tomatoes Sliced thin
• 1 Medium Zucchini Sliced thin
• 1 Medium Yellow Squash Sliced thin
• 1 Large Russet Potato Peeled and sliced thin
• Kosher salt
• Black Pepper
• 12 Ounces Grapeseed oil or Canola Oil

Tomato Sauce

• 3 Cloves garlic Thinly sliced
• 1/2 onion Finely Diced
• 14.5 Ounces Crushed Tomato
• 5 Sprigs Fresh thyme
• 2 Tablespoons parsley Chopped
• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Teaspoon salt
• 1/4 Teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1/4 Teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper
• 1/4 Teaspoon Brown Sugar

Method

 

1. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in dutch oven over medium heat.
2. Next, add diced onion and garlic into the dutch oven and sauté for 2-3 minutes until fragrant and onions are slightly translucent.
3. Add in crushed tomato, herbs, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, and sugar. Stir until sauce begins to simmer then lower temperature to low heat and allow to cook until slightly reduced.
4. While the sauce is cooking, in a frying pan, heat the canola oil to a medium-high temperature.
5. Once the oil is hot, cook the sliced eggplant in batches, being careful not to crowd the pan. Remove the eggplant slices as soon as they begin to brown, placing them on a paper towel to drain excess oil. Repeat this step with the potato slices.
6. Remove the sauce from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Next, arrange the sliced vegetables into the bottom of the pot - alternate between the potato, zucchini, squash, eggplant, and tomato slices. Arrange into spiral shape.
7. Cover and place the dutch oven back on the burner on medium to low heat for about 20 minutes. Then remove remove lid and allow the vegetables to continue simmering for another 20 minutes while the excess water evaporates.
8. Serve with rice or crusty French bread.