Meatless Monday: Ratatouille!

I had never even heard the word “Ratatouille” until I saw the Disney movie (by the same name) about a rat named Remy who dreams about becoming a great French chef in Paris. If you haven’t seen it, I would definitely recommend it! And, it didn’t register in my mind just exactly what Ratatouille (the dish) actually is until about a year ago when I first tried this recipe. But this is a great, simple recipe! And as you will see, the result is a delicious, healthy dish with lots of vegetables that is both light and filling at the same time. While Ratatouille can be served by itself, I enjoy it with some rice on the side. It makes for a great meal! 

Before we get to the ingredients, I want to say thanks to Allrecipes.com, the site that helped me make this dish! Although I have made a couple very tiny changes, the original recipe can be found here.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 cloves garlic – chopped small

2 teaspoons dried parsley

1 eggplant – cut into cubes about ½ inch thick

2 zucchini – sliced

1 large yellow onion – sliced into rings

2 cups fresh mushrooms – sliced

1 bell pepper (any color will do….I like yellow the best) – sliced

2 large tomatoes – chopped

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Salt/pepper to your liking

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, or 175 degrees if you’re working with Celsius. Coat the bottom and sides of a medium-sized glass or ceramic baking dish (you can see the one I used in my pictures) with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

Pour the other 1 tablespoon olive oil into a medium skillet and turn the burner to medium heat. Cook the garlic until it is lightly browned, and then mix in the parsley and eggplant cubes. Keep cooking until the eggplant becomes soft – roughly 10 minutes. Add some salt/pepper to your liking.

Spread the eggplant/garlic/parsley mixture evenly across the bottom of your baking dish, and cover this layer with a sprinkle (a few tablespoons) of Parmesan cheese. Spread the sliced zucchini in an even layer over the top. Sprinkle with more cheese. Do the same (create a new layer and then add cheese) with the onion slices, mushrooms, bell pepper, and finally tomatoes. Bake for 45 minutes, and you’re done!