Eat Your Veggies, They're Good for You!

     Last year my Weight Watcher leader challenged my meeting to try a new vegetable.  I'm all for more "free" or low Point foods so the search was on but I hesitated when I came across ratatouille.  I had not been a fan of the brown mess I vaguely remembered but the pretty rainbow of veg I discovered on Smitten Kitchen was delightful!  It was called "Ratatouille's Ratatouille" after the movie (which I, too, enjoyed - certainly a sign!) so I tried out the recipe and found that I now love ratatouille!  So I made it again and again much to my husband's delight.  Happy ending, right?  Nope.  I was weary of the laborious cutting and layering but still loving the dish so I came up with a simplified version (even if it may no longer be called "true" ratatouille) that wasn't as pretty but still tasted pretty darn good and I call it Easy Ratatouille.

Easy Ratatouille

Vegetable Ingredients

• A  Chinese eggplant (or small regular)
• A zucchini
• A yellow squash
• A red, yellow or orange pepper
• A green pepper
• A box of baby portabella mushrooms*
• Salt and pepper

Sauce Ingredients

• Half an onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme 
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 14 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Oil mister or cooking spray
• A splash of red wine/2 tablespoons (optional) 

Putting it Together

     Spray a 2 - 3 quart oven safe casserole dish with cooking spray (I use my old French white Corning ware).  Add all the sauce ingredients, stir to combine and set aside.  Heat  oven to 400 F.    

     Clean the mushrooms, trim and slice then set aside in the frig.  They will be sauteed and added to the ratatouille at the end*.  Rinse and trim the ends off the long vegetables.  The Chinese eggplant (I prefer Chinese over regular because they usually have fewer seeds) is the softest of the veg and cooks the fastest so quarter it the long way and slice all four long wedges into 1/4+ inch slices.  Dump them into a large holding bowl.  The zucchini and yellow squash are halved down the length and cut into 1/8-1/4 inch slices; add to the holding bowl.  Wash and split the peppers, remove the seeds and membranes.  Cut them into inch-wide strips and slice the strips into 1/8-1/4 inch slices; add to the holding bowl.     

     Sprinkle the veg in the holding bowl with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a few grinds of black pepper, toss to mix and dump the veg into your sauced casserole.  Push the veg down into the sauce but don't worry if you can't see the sauce - you will after the veg cook down a bit.  Spritz the top with an olive oil mister or cooking spray (I love my WW oil mister).  Spray a sheet of foil (or use easy release foil) with cooking spray (or use the lid if you have one), place sprayed side down and crimp to seal.  Use a small knife to make about 6 steam slits across the foil; this seems to help siphon off all that moisture the veggies release.  Place in a preheated oven for an hour.  After an hour stir the mixture (you will be able to stir the veg into the sauce now)  and return the covered dish to the oven, lower the temperature to 350F and cook for 30 - 45 minutes longer.  Cooking time depends mainly on the amount of vegetables used.

     Time to saute` the mushrooms*.  Using a teaspoon of olive oil or a spray from an olive oil mister, heat the pan to medium, add the sliced mushrooms, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and cook to your preference.  Remove pan from heat, cover to keep warm.  Check the ratatouille, if the vegetables are cooked to your liking, stir in the mushrooms and you're ready to serve.  But what will you serve it with?  Now you'll see, dear eater, why I've been making ratatouille so frequently!

     For a meatless meal I have served this recipe on fresh pasta with a sprinkling of Parmesan, just add a green salad - delicious!   For a very low carb meal or side I substitute spaghetti squash for the pasta (I don't even like squash!) and this pairing brings out the best in each.  Seriously.  I used it instead of marinara for oven-baked chicken Parmesan - yummy!  Fish, especially cod, goes so well with this ratatouille - think cod Veracruz!  After cooking the fish separately I thought, "Duh!" and laid the seasoned cod pieces directly on top of the ratatouille under the tinfoil during the last bit of cooking time.  The fish took about 10-15 minutes and it was an easy option.  With the Houston heat approaching I thought I'd be going through ratatouille withdrawal...until I remembered my slow cooker - sounds like a match made in heaven.   

A favorite pairing, baked cod and ratatouille.

A note to my fellow Weight Watchers:  I plugged the Easy Ratatouille recipe into my Recipe Builder and it totaled 11 points (the teaspoon of olive oil and 1 oz. of red wine registering the only ingredient Points and when I looked up each vegetable in the "Complete Food Companion" they were all listed as 0 Points, cooked or raw.)  So at 6 total servings that comes to 2 Points per serving; but once again I'll leave the math up to you.

Smitten Kitchen  is a wonderful cooking blog and responsible for my new-found love of ratatouille and the inspiration for my Easy Ratatouille!