A Rustic Beauty, Slowly Baked In Cast Iron
Ratatouille is a summer stunner. It cooks long and slow and the thinly sliced vegetables and herbs combine in the oven and melt the garden fresh flavors together. It’s the consummate summer 👩🏻🌾 vegetable-gardeners-go-to-dish.
My version is far from the perfectly sized/matched spiral of vegetables that you see in magazines. Since I was lucky enough to have these babies grow in our garden, I had to be grateful at that, and I am. Select veggies of equal size if you want a perfect spiral ratatouille.
All my veggies are of varying degrees of width and length, but I think a spiral baked ratatouille still looks so pretty especially when it’s not perfect. But you can make this anyway you like, even in a dutch oven with veggies you cut in cubes and guess what, it all tastes heavenly. This is the dish that made that cartoon rat famous.
Garden Goods
If your garden turned out in any way productive this year, you are like me and it’s full on harvest daily. It’s my favorite time of the year (except for the heat). But you don’t actually have to have your own garden right now to enjoy the peak of season delish-ish-ness. Just go to the grocery store or your closes farmers market. I happen to love eggplant and in this version of ratatouille, I used both Japanese (the long slender eggplants) and the black globe, the huge aubergines of story books. Paired with zucchini and garden ripened 🍅 tomatoes, this is the best baked veggie dish you can make.
The Recipe
I used a knife and my mandolin. The mandolin is great for slicing the zucchini and the eggplant 🍆 but a knife works best for ripe tomatoes! I used the 1/16 setting on the mandolin to cut the slices evenly. Then, using a serrated knife, I sliced the tomatoes as thinly as it looked like they would take it. I didn’t have anymore yellow crook neck squash, so I just used more zucchini. For the taste and the pretty look, I would suggest using the crook neck too. Set the veggies aside.
Into a 9 inch cast iron skillet 🍳 , add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 5 minced garlic cloves and 1/2 a chopped, sweet Vidalia onion (sweet onion). Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Once the onions start to brown a bit, add chopped bell pepper. I used 1/2 a orange bell pepper and 1/2 a red pepper. Let them cook until they start to brown.
Then add 1 cup of cherry tomatoes 🍅. Cook the tomatoes until they start to pop. You can use a cup of tomato sauce in place of the cherry tomatoes.
Next, I added a tablespoon of my homemade pesto. This is totally optional. If you want my recipe, you can get it here: https://wp.me/p9KEfL-BQ
In a spiral pattern and alternating vegetables, add your cut zucchini, tomatoes and eggplant. Keep filling the dish until you’ve gone from the outside to the center. Top with a dollops of pesto, salt and pepper and two teaspoons of fresh thyme. Bake covered with foil for 45 minutes at 375°. Then, uncover and cook another 30 minutes. Serve as a side dish or with rice.
I also loved it for breakfast topped with a perfectly poached egg. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 2 medium size zucchini
- 1 large eggplant
- 2 small Japanese eggplant
- 4-5 medium tomatoes
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 yellow bell pepper
- 1/2 orange or red bell pepper
- 1/2 medium sweet onion
- 3 tablespoons pesto
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons freshly chopped thyme leaves only
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
Instructions
- Into a 9 inch cast iron skillet, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 5 minced garlic cloves and 1/2 a chopped, sweet Vidalia onion (sweet onion). Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Once the onions start to brown a bit, add chopped bell pepper. I used 1/2 a orange bell pepper and 1/2 a red pepper. Let them cook until they start to brown. Then add 1 cup of cherry tomatoes. Cook the tomatoes until they start to pop. Next, I added a tablespoon of my homemade pesto. This is totally optional. If you want my recipe, you can get it here: https://wp.me/p9KEfL-BQ
- In a spiral pattern and alternating vegetables, add your cut zucchini, tomatoes and eggplant. Keep filling the dish until you've gone from the outside to the center. Top with a dollops of pesto, salt and pepper and two teaspoons of fresh thyme. Bake covered with foil for 45 minutes at 375°. Then, uncover and cook another 30 minutes.
Recipe From Karen https://www.bittersaltysoursweet.com
