But we can't keep having fried eggplant. And a couple weeks before we tried this ratatouille recipe I made a roasted eggplant dish with quinoa (check back later for that) so I knew we needed to find something new for the eggplant.
And then I thought making ratatouille would be a good idea. Everyone loves that Disney movie, right?!
After thinking about the movie, admittedly maybe a little too much, I realized that I had never had the featured dish: ratatouille! It was a stroke of genius because I had everything in the kitchen waiting for me: eggplant, squash, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and pepper! I found a recipe on Food Network.com from Anne Burrell and put it on the weekly meal plan.
Anne Burrell's Ratatouille from FoodNetwork.com
Serves 4 to 6
Ingredients
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
Kosher salt
Pinch crushed red pepper
4 cloves garlic, smashed and finely chopped
3 large tomatoes, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 small bundle fresh thyme
1 red pepper, stems, seeds and pith removed and cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 medium eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 large or 2 small summer squash, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 large zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch dice
6 fresh basil leaves, cut into chiffonade
Directions
Coat a large wide pan with olive oil. Add the onions, season with salt and crushed red pepper and bring the pan to a medium heat. Cook the onions until they are soft and very aromatic but have no color, 7 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, 1/2 cup water, thyme bundle and season with salt. Cook the tomatoes until they become very pulpy and have broken apart, 15 to 20 minutes.
Add the peppers and cook for 5 minutes. Add the eggplant, summer squash and zucchini, season with salt and cook until the squash is soft, 15 to 20 minutes.
Stir in the basil and taste to make sure the seasoning is correct. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Just a few notes: I did not use fresh thyme or basil. Our fresh herbs did not survive into the fall; I substituted dried herbs instead. I substituted chicken stock for the 1/2 cup water added to the tomatoes. I did not have zucchini so used an extra squash!
We served the ratatouille with a bit of shredded cheese on top in our Denby Halo rimmed soup bowls. Remember how I said we loved a rimmed soup/pasta bowl?! They're so versatile. I also wanted to highlight the glaze variations in the pattern. Denby hand glazes each piece which means no one bowl is the same. Through working at Macy's I had previously reached out to Denby because a couple was concerned about some differing color hues in their pattern. I learned that Denby has a controlled pattern with approved variations above and below that. Below is an example of some variations in our pattern. I think these two must be extremes of what is approved!
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