May 17, 2020

Easy Vegetable Ratatouille

Last summer we belonged to a local farm CSA. I loved having a surprise of fresh veggies every other week. Some new to me items and some familiar favorites showed up. One thing that kept showing up was a variety of eggplants. And while I’m familiar with eggplant–it’s not really my favorite.

Ratatouille is my go-to dish for eggplant because I honestly don’t do much else with them lol. (I’ve not tried making fried eggplant at home but maybe I should?) Eggplants are kind of an intimidating vegetable I think. They’re large and awkward and more than 1 person can eat within the time they go bad in the fridge. But the point of a CSA is to try new things and obviously I didn’t want to waste the veggies I was getting– so I made a lot of ratatouille.

This Easy Vegetable Ratatouille should be on your menu all summer because it’s healthy, flavorful, pretty (all the colors!), and a great way to use some of those garden veggies. It’s also versatile as a main dish or side.

Rustic, bright veggies + flavorful herb oil. Yum!

Easy Vegetable Ratatouille

Summer veggies oven roasted in marinara sauce and topped with a fresh herb marinade. Perfect way to use up bumper crop from the garden! Healthy, delicious, and easy. Vegan.

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Prep Time 30

Cook Time 1

Resting Time 5

Total Time 1 35

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine American, French

Servings

Calories 201 kcal

Equipment

A 2 quart baking dish or two, 1 quart baking dishes

Ingredients

1 medium zucchini
1 medium yellow squash
½ large eggplant or 1 small, thin eggplant
4 Roma tomatoes
1 small red onion
1½ c marinara sauce
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp fresh basil, minced
1 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
½ tsp dried thyme
¼ tsp sage
salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

Prep the veggies:

Very thinly slice zucchini, squash, eggplant, tomatoes, and onion. If needed, halve or quarter eggplant slices to fit other vegetables.
Try to use veggies similar in diameter for easier layering.
In a small bowl, stir together olive oil, fresh basil, fresh parsley, garlic, oregano, thyme, sage, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Prepare and bake the dish:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spread marinara sauce evenly in the bottom of a 2-qt casserole dish (or into two, 1-qt dishes).
Start layering vegetables upright in dish, working from the outside to the center. If using a round dish, repeat in a circular motion. If using a square or rectangle casserole, work in lines. Repeat layers until no veggies remain.
Using a small spoon, drop olive oil/herb marinade over veggies. Spread around gently.
Cover with foil and bake for about 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake 15-20 minutes more, until veggies are soft and begin to pull away from sides of dish.
Let sit for 5 minutes for sauce to cool down (it's very hot). Serve as a main dish or alongside fresh bread and salad. Enjoy!