Ratatouille – Try this Eggplant Free Version

If you have been to my website before, you might know that I am not the biggest eggplant fan and try as I might, I just don’t really love it. Unfortunately, eggplant is a key ingredient for ratatouille, so I had to try to make it without eggplant and the results were better than I could have imagined.

My ratatouille, despite the lack of the meaty eggplant, came out hearty and delicious with none of those bitter notes from the eggplant. For those of you scratching your head and thinking I am talking about the Disney movie with a rat, lo and behold, ratatouille is actually a French recipe that uses summer vegetables and bakes it into something kind of stew. It’s humble yet delicious and uses all of that French provencal goodness in summer produce, aromatics, and of course, butter.

Pair this with chicken provencal for the perfect French meal or keep it vegetarian and soak up that vegetable goodness with a simple baguette.

Ingredients:

1 zucchini, sliced

1 large tomato, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 pepper, sliced

1/2 fennel bulb, sliced

1/2 onion sliced

2 + tablespoons butter, cubed

1 teaspoon of thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

Parsely for the pretty

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Butter a loaf pan and begin layer the vegetables like a lasagna in this order: onions, peppers, fennel, zucchini, and finally tomato. Season with garlic, salt, pepper, and thyme as you go.
3. Top the tomatoes with more seasoning and then distribute the cubed butter over the top.
4. Bake covered for 45 minutes at 400F. Remove the foil and finish under a low broil for another 15 minutes or so. Sprinkle some parsley over the top and serve immediately.

If you like this, be sure to check out my roasted cauliflower recipe!