Ratatouille
Ratatouille is a French Provençal stewed vegetable dish, that was featured in one of my favorite Disney Movies “Ratatouille”. Like many family recipes cooking times and techniques differ widely, but common ingredients include tomato, garlic, onion, eggplant and squash. I have added meat to this as we are meat eaters in the Fangman house, but leave the meat and parmesan cheese out and my favorite Vegans can eat it too!!
Ratatouille
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 lb of ground meat, elk, venison or antelope
1 onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 tablespoon of oregano
1 tablespoon of thyme
1 teaspoon of white pepper
salt and pepper to taste
1 pint of canned tomatoes
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 eggplants, sliced 1/8”
6 tomatoes, sliced 1/8
2 yellow squashes, sliced 1/8
2 zucchinis, sliced 1/8
Parmesan Cheese for topping
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a heavy saucepan then add the ground meat breaking apart and stirring. Once mostly cooked add the onions, garlic, bell pepper, oregano, thyme, white pepper, salt and pepper. Cook until meat, onion and peppers are cooked through then add the tomatoes and turn the heat down to low and let simmer for 15-20 minutes. Add to a blender or use an emersion blender to smooth out the sauce.
Pre heat the oven to 350 ˚F. Coat the bottom of a 12” oven safe pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add most of the sauce to the pan coating evenly. On top of the sauce arrange the sliced veggies alternating zucchini, eggplant, tomato, and squash from the outer edge to the middle of the pan. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle over remaining sauce. Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes, uncover, and bake for 20 more minutes until the vegetables are soften. Pull out and top with Parmesan Cheese and serve while hot.
