Day 17: Ratatouille

In honor of our new family pet, Fred the black rat; my French heritage; and in honor of one of my favorite kid’s movies… I decided to cook up some ratatouille tonight! While I’ve HAD ratatouille, I had never cooked it. I went to the internet to pull some recipes. With a little combining of ideas and some creativity I came up with the recipe you will find below.

For anyone who has never tried or even heard of ratatouille- it is amazing. It is pronounced Rat-a-too-ee, but despite its name, does not contain any rodent parts… or any meat at all J Ratatouille is a vegetarian dish that can be served as a side, or the main dish… but I like it as the main dish, with maybe some GF bread to sop up the yummy juices.

Now, as you read my ratatouille recipe below, keep in mind these important changes to the traditional form: 1- In traditional ratatouille, all ingredients are fried up separately, and then combined for a final stew-like dish. My ratatouille is only semi-fried (in olive oil) then baked to get that delicious texture. 2- Traditional form has a big unrecognizable mash-up of the final flavors; mine allows you to savor together or apart. 3- Traditional recipes use green bell pepper; I used yellow, for a sweeter taste and nice color. 4- Traditional takes quite a while to chop and cook… mine took 1 hour from start to finish.

Riendeau’s Ratatouille

GF, CoF, CF/DF, NF, SF, EF (That’s right… it’s VEGAN)

Ingredients:

3 TBS Olive oil

1 Medium-Large Eggplant, chopped into small cubes
2 TBS Minced Garlic (yeah, I LOVE garlic)
1 TBS Parsley (a little less if you use fresh- I would have but was in a rush tonight)
2 medium Zucchini, sliced thin
1 large Onion, cut into rings
2 large vine-ripe tomatoes, sliced thin
1 large yellow bell pepper
 1 package of sliced white mushrooms (I can’t remember the ounce size, but the size up from the smallest)

Sea Salt

Grated Parmesan cheese (I grate as I use it)
Spray Oil
 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Prepare all veggies. You’ll want this done before you start layering.

In a pan, sauté the diced eggplant in the olive oil with the garlic and parsley. Do this until eggplant in tender, about 7 minutes on medium/high heat.

While stirring the eggplant, also prepare a casserole dish by covering sides and bottom with non-stick spray or olive oil.

Pour the eggplant mixture into the bottom of the dish.

Season with salt and shred a little parmesan on top of the eggplant.

Saute the onions in oil until soft, layer on top of the eggplant.

Layer the other vegetables on top, neatly alternating between the types/flavors (see image).

Season with salt and shred a little parmesan again

Add another layer of the alternating veggies.

Season once more with salt and a little pepper, top with a little parmesan.

Cook at 350 for 45-50 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. I purposely did not overcook, to leave some “fresh veggie” taste.

Scoop out servings, being sure to include some juices from the bottom.

Enjoy!

I am willing to bet that this is going to be even better for my lunch tomorrow, but I’ll keep you all posted! For anyone wondering still why we bought a pet rat… you can ask my husband; but he is awfully cute and cuddly!

Meet Fred, our newest "family member"

If you try it, let me know your thoughts!

Naturally,

Raych