Ratatouille
What a fabulous vegetable dish! It sounds not so appetizing, I admit, looks can be deceiving as well, unless you are really into that presentation thing and can afford tons of time on that, but the flavor, I have to say, it is amazing. Give it a try, super easy to make, super nutritious, easily transformed into vegetarian version, perfect for leftovers… what else to ask for?
I forgot to take pictures of mine, so here, I borrowed Martha Stewart’s image from her recipe. Of course mine is a lot simpler, nowhere near as fancy as far as red wine vinegar is used..but the final result looks pretty similar. I will for sure try hers next time.
Ingredients:
1 large eggplant, diced
5 Roma tomatoes, diced
2 yellow onions, medium size,
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 zucchini, diced
1 squash, diced
2 giant weird beans from my parents’ garden, diced. Totally optional, I just wanted to use it in my dish, what else am I going to use it for, seriously? Yep, that thing is like 1.5 ft long!
salt to taste
2 tsp garlic powder, you can totally substitute with minced fresh garlic, as a matter of fact, you should! I was being lazy..
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp dried parsley, again use fresh if you have access. Being Asian, I normally stock up on green onions, very rarely parsley.
1 tsp chicken bouillon, or use chicken / vegetable stock
I had some cooked ground pork, so I threw about 1/4 cup of that in to add flavor, totally optional.
1 bay leaf
Method:
Heavy bottom pot, I used my trusty Dutch oven, 1 tbsp vegetable oil, on medium-high heat. Cook onions until fragrant. Salt onions. Throw in all the rest of diced vegetables (how easy is that?!) Stir the vegetable around, add more salt, and all the seasonings, throw in the bay leaf. Add about 1 cup of water. Don’t worry if it seems dry, the vegetables will give out quite a bit of moisture during the cooking process. Bring the mixture to a low simmer, lower heat to medium low. Cover tightly and cook for about 1 hour. Stir occasionally and check liquid level. Make sure it doesn’t burn.
Fish out the bay leaf, enjoy! This dish is amazing the next day too. Good luck not over eating! But the good news is, it is so healthy you totally won’t feel guilty stuffing your face!
