Ratatouille With Fresh Summer Vegetables

Although I am not a huge fan of eggplant, I had to decide what to do with my vegetables from this week’s CSA pick-up. The vegetables included an eggplant, tons of beautiful tomatoes, a huge zucchini and yellow summer squash.

Since I had onions, garlic and peppers at home, there was only one idea which came to mind…ratatouille. I improvised with this recipe, and I can’t believe how delicious it came out! It was really simple and I attribute its deliciousness to the farm fresh organic vegetables which I used.

I chopped most of the vegetables in this recipe to about this size…

I have this awesome stainless steel knife which is made specifically for cutting tomatoes and light fruits and vegetables. I used it to chop and seed the tomatoes. It is from the company “Cutco” which is extremely expensive, but I splurged since I chop and cut fruits and veggies almost everyday. I’m sure you could find a less expensive version of this knife which is just as good…

I also used my Le Creuset 71/4 quart round French oven to make this dish. I could not believe how amazing my house smelled and how beautiful this dish looked while everything was cooking. Check it out…

The final result was a simple meal (an entree for me) but would most probably make a better side dish for 4 people. My husband loved it too! Although it’s a basic recipe, I strongly suggest that you take advantage of the fresh summer vegetables before summer comes to an end by preparing this simple and elegant dish.

RATATOUILLE WITH FRESH SUMMER VEGETABLES

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1/3 cup olive oil

2 onions, chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 eggplant, chopped

1 large zucchini (or 2 small ones), chopped

2 summer yellow squashes, chopped

1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped

3 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped

3 parsley sprigs

2 thyme sprigs

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a pot. Add the onions and cook over low heat for about 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they turn soft. Add the garlic and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes, stirring often.

Add the eggplant, zucchini and peppers to the pot. Stir everything together and increase the heat to medium for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Then add the parsley, thyme and bay leaf. Reduce the heat to low or medium/low to simmer (covering the pot with a loose lid) for 40 minutes.

Stir in the chopped tomatoes and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Simmer for another 10 minutes covering the pot with the loose lid. Remove the thyme sprigs and the bay leaf. Serve and enjoy!