Derived from: Tasty
It’s summer, which means tomatoes, summer squash and fresh herbs. In an effort to integrate more vegetables into my meal rotation, I decided to put the seasonal veggies to good use by making some ratatouille.
While the vegetable chopping can take a bit of time, this dish is straightforward, and the assembly and cooking methods can be adjusted to fit your preference – whether that be sliced or chopped vegetables or cooking on the stove, in the oven or in the slow cooker. I have previously made a version of ratatouille by chopping the vegetables and cooking in the slow cooker all day. This time, I am trying a version by Tasty, which calls for slicing, layering and baking in the oven. This creates a beautiful dish that would be perfect for a dinner party or summer gathering. For the original recipe, click here.
Most of the ratatouille recipes I have seen use the same ingredients with some slight variations here and there. I divided the vegetables in Tasty’s recipe by half and substituted some dry herbs instead of fresh, based on what I had on hand. Below are the basics:
Ingredients
Vegetables
- 1 eggplant
- 3 roma tomatoes
- 1 yellow squash
- 1 zucchini
Sauce
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 yellow bell pepper, diced
- salt, to taste
- pepper, to taste
- 14.5* oz can of crushed tomatoes
- *To stick to the original recipe’s ratio of bell pepper to tomato sauce, use a 28 oz can. I used a 14.5 oz can because I was worried about space, and this ended up working well for me.
- 1 tbsp dried basil
Herb dressing
- 1 tbsp dried basil
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp dried parsley
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- salt, to taste
- pepper, to taste
- 4 tbsp olive oil
Tasty’s original recipe serves 8 people. By cutting down the vegetables, mine resulted in about 4-6 servings, depending on if you are having it as a main or side. Below are the steps I followed, accompanied by some visuals:
STEP 1: Preheat the oven and prepare the vegetables
Preheat your oven to 375°. Whether you decide to chop or slice, it’s time to get to work on the vegetables. For this baked version, I sliced the eggplant, squash and zucchini thinly (Tasty recommends 1/16-inch, but mine were probably closer to 1/8 – 1/4-inch). Next, dice the onion and bell peppers for the sauce.
STEP 2: Make the sauce
Heat the olive oil in a 12-inch oven-safe pan (I used a cast iron skillet) over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic and bell peppers to the pan and cook until soft. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and add the crushed tomatoes. Stir the ingredients, making sure everything is well combined. Remove from heat and stir in the basil. Smooth the mixture evenly across the bottom of the pan.
STEP 3: Start layering
Layer the vegetables in an alternating pattern on top of the sauce working from the outside in. Because my slices were a little thicker, they did not fit as snuggly, but I was still happy with how it came together.
STEP 4: Prepare the herb dressing
Mix together the herbs, garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil in a separate bowl. Once combined, pour the mixture on top of the vegetables.
STEP 5: Cover and bake
Cover the pan with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Then, remove the foil and bake for another 20 minutes. When the vegetables are soft, remove from the oven and serve!
I served mine with rice and later repurposed the dish as a pasta bake by mixing the ratatouille with rigatoni, adding some shredded mozzarella on top and baking in a 1.5 qt glass loaf pan for 15 minutes. This repurposed dish made for a fun way to finish off the leftovers.
Make sure to visit Tasty to see the video they created for this recipe and for some additional tips and tricks in the comments section, and of course, let me know if you give it a try!
