Ratatouille – A Beautiful Mess

To be honest, you probably don’t know what ratatouille is, except for Disney Pixar’s Remy recipe. Remy’s Delicious Restaurant movie. A very colorful and decidedly delicious meatless dish? Please register! So, not long after seeing the movie (in 2007), I started looking up recipes. I’m no French chef, but this homemade version was inspired by a traditional ratatouille recipe.

What is ratatouille? If you’ve seen this movie (and you should, because it’s so cute!), you know that it’s described as a peasant stew made with summer vegetables. The star of this dish is the vegetables, so we recommend making it in late summer, when vegetables are in season. But it’s still delicious year-round, and while I mostly make it as a main course, it’s also great as a light vegetable side dish for holiday meals. After all, the colors are Christmas-like.

Related: If you like this flavor, try stuffed peppers, bruschetta, or tomato burrata next.

material

• olive oil
• yellow onion
• garlic
• carrot
• salt
• black pepper
• tomato sauce
• eggplant
• zucchini
• Yellow squash – also called summer squash
• tomato
• parsley

As you can see from the ingredient list above, this recipe is naturally dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegan-friendly. However, I like to eat it with buttery toasted garlic bread, so that tends to ruin it. 🙂

direction

First, make the tomato stew base. Chop the onions and carrots, and mince the garlic. Sauté onions and carrots in olive oil over medium heat until onions begin to brown and soften. Add the garlic and season generously with salt and pepper. Cook for another minute. Next, add tomato sauce and simmer. Turn off the heat and set aside until needed.

Next, chop the eggplant, green zucchini, yellow pumpkin and tomatoes. The goal here is to cut the pieces into half-moon or half-coin shapes so that all the pieces are relatively uniform in size. It’s okay to make the tomato slices a little thicker, as they cook faster, but leave the eggplant and zucchini slices thinner.

Add tomato stew to an 8×8 square casserole pan. Then layer the sliced ​​vegetables on top. Make sure it’s at least half submerged in the stew.

Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake in a 375°F oven for 45 minutes. Remove the foil during the last 10 minutes of baking.

Top with chopped parsley and serve hot.

Tips and more information

• Vegetables can be cut by hand with a sharp knife, or you can use a knife. mandolin This is to keep the thickness uniform.
• The vegetables are the star of this recipe, so choose as many fresh and seasonal options as possible. That makes a big difference.
• If you want to add Parmesan cheese on top, feel free to do so!
• Other options include fresh basil, fresh thyme leaves, other fresh herbs, red pepper flakes, and Italian seasoning.
• You can make this the day before by following the recipe up to the baking part and instead covering the dish with aluminum foil and refrigerating it until you are ready to bake.
• I don’t think ratatouille makes much leftover. This is just my opinion. But if you have some leftover, I recommend this one. Put everything in a blender and puree it, leaving it to add the vegetable chunks or puree until smooth. This will keep in the fridge for at least 3 days. Warm up in the microwave or on the stove and enjoy as a soup.

See more soup and stew recipes