Ratatouille

Plan Z Phase: This is a Z2 (ZReduction) recipe. Some of you might remember a movie (a cartoon), with the name Ratatouille.

Well for those unfamiliar, ratatouille is actually a really fine French vegetable dish. So easy to make! The traditional version has some veggies (like zucchini and mushrooms) that we cannot have on ZReduction so I improvised. Tastes very much like the authentic version so I am presenting it to you for your side dish enjoyment.

Servings: Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 2 Chinese eggplants cut into once inch cubes. Don’t bother to peel it. The skin is good for you.
• 2 red pepper chopped into 1” chunks
• 4 shallots peeled and cut in half and half again
• 1 pint of cherry tomatoes
• 3 tsp of minced garlic
• olive oil spray
• 1 heaping tsp of Italian seasoning mix
• 2-4 Tbl of balsamic vinegar

Instructions:

Cut the eggplants into the cubes and place on paper towels to drain.  Grate sea salt on them and let them sit on the towels while you prep the other veggies. Eggplant is bitter until you put the sea salt on and leave it for a bit.

In a cast iron pan (or 9″ x 13″ ovenproof pan) lightly spray the bottom with olive oil spray. Then add the red peppers, shallots, cherry tomatoes garlic and seasoning. Stir to mix it up. Take the eggplant off of the paper towels and place the chunks of eggplant in and stir again. Lightly spray the top of the mixture and place I the oven at 400 degrees for 1 hour. The veggies will roast and shrink pretty dramatically. This is a colorful dish, but not really pretty. The smell will fill your kitchen though and you can imagine you are in Tuscany, Italy. At the 45 minute mark lightly drizzle the veggies with the balsamic vinegar and toss. Put back in the oven to finish.

Serve with a piece of grilled meat or fish. This is your vegetable portion.

Enjoy!

Cheers,