Ratatouille for Bastille Day

j0436577 Happy Bastille Day! To celebrated the le quatorze juillet, storm your local farmer’s market and your grocery store’s produce section and make some ratatouille.

What I love about ratatouille is how healthy it is – fresh vegetables, a little olive oil, some herbs, and salt and pepper. You can serve it as a side dish, as a main meal, in an omelet, or even in no-flour no-sugar crepes.

This very basic recipe comes from What’s Cooking?, a terrific and adorable children’s cookbook from the Pixar movie Ratatouille. It’s simple and straight forward. If you like you can add fresh parsley, different colored tomatoes, and yellow summer squash. I like to make this later in the summer when we have more zucchini, tomatoes and squash that we know what to do with.

Gusteau’s Ratatouille

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant, cubed
1/4 to 1/3 cup olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 chopped pepper (red or green)
2 to 4 crushed garlic cloves
4 small zucchini, chopped
4 tomatoes, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
Parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Salt the eggplant, drain in a colander for 1 hour, and pat dry.
Heat half of the oil in a large saucepan and briefly sauté the eggplant until brown, then add the onion and pepper.
Next, add the garlic, zucchini, and tomatoes. Cook until a soft stew has formed, about 15 to 30 minutes.
Serve over rice in a bowl or on a plate
Add the salt, pepper, and basil. Sprinkle with the cheese and serve. You can freeze leftovers.

More ratatouille recipes