Once you’ve made this recipe, you’ll understand why my family has fallen in love with this Mediterranean Ratatouille. Roasting the vegetables works its magic and enhances the natural deliciousness of vegetables. The cannellini beans add protein power, making it a satisfying main meal. The rich tomato sauce pairs perfectly with rustic crusty bread for soaking up every last drop. They’ll keep coming back for more.
What ingredient do you need to make this Mediterranean Ratatouille?
- Yellow button squash or patty pans
- Zucchini
- Eggplant
- Mushrooms
- Olive oil
- Fresh Thyme
- Onion
- Garlic
- Can diced tomatoes
- Sugar
- Tomato paste
- Chilli flakes (optional)
- Lemon
- Can Cannellini beans
- Baby spinach
- Fresh Parsley
- Fresh basil
How to add meat to this recipe?
- Chicken:
Cut boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs into bite-sized pieces. Season with salt, pepper, and any preferred herbs or spices. In a separate pan, sauté the chicken until cooked through and slightly browned. Mix the cooked chicken with the roasted vegetables and tomato sauce during the final step. - Sausage:
Slice your favourite sausage (such as Italian sausage or chorizo) into rounds or chunks. Sauté the sausage in a separate pan until browned and fully cooked. Combine the roasted vegetables, tomato sauce, and the cooked sausage together for a delicious meaty twist. - Shrimp:
For a seafood variation, add peeled and deveined shrimp to the roasted vegetables during the last few minutes of roasting. The shrimp will cook quickly, so be sure not to overcook them.
Remember to adjust the cooking times accordingly to ensure that the meat is fully cooked and safe to eat. By adding meat to this recipe, you can create a hearty and satisfying meal that caters to both meat lovers and vegetarians at the table. This adds more ways to enjoy this delicious and versatile Mediterranean Ratatouille!
Key Steps for Perfect Mediterranean Ratatouille:
Disgorging the eggplant:
Start of by disgorging the eggplant. You can skip this part, but it removes the bitterness and excess moisture from the eggplant and improves the taste.
Roasting the Vegetables:
Uniformly cutting the vegetable pieces to the same size is essential to ensure even cooking throughout. Roasting enhances the natural deliciousness of vegetables; a simple mix of oil, salt, and pepper does the magic. Achieving a crispy and charred exterior while keeping them super juicy and tender inside.
Adding Cannellini Beans:
These little protein powerhouses bring an extra punch of wholesome goodness to our dish. Toss them into the mix just and warm through.
Balancing the tomato sauce:
Dedicate a little time to this step: sauté the onions and garlic until softened and aromatic. Allow the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, and chili flakes to simmer for 10 minutes on low heat, resulting in a rich, well-rounded flavour. Finish with a touch of lemon, salt, and pepper to bring it all together.
What makes this recipe a Mediterranean Ratatouille?
The classic origin of Ratatouille is rooted in the region of Provence in southern France. Ratatouille is a traditional vegetable stew that has been a part of Provençal cuisine for centuries.
Provençal Ratatouille was considered a rustic peasant dish. Made with simple and readily available ingredients, like eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers. These vegetables were stewed together with herbs like thyme, basil, and parsley, and cooked in olive oil.
In this Mediterranean Ratatouille, we use variety of colourful vegetables, typical Mediterranean herbs and the tomato-based sauce, which is a stable in Mediterranean cuisine.
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Mediterranean Ratatouille
Description
This recipe might appear elaborate at first glance. But fear not, for its versatility allows you to adapt and improvise based on what you have in your pantry. Indeed, this recipe is a true kitchen Savior – you can literally empty your veggie drawer at the end of the week and incorporate any leftover produce into this delightful Mediterranean Ratatouille. Waste not, Savor all!
Ingredients
- 4 Yellow button squash, quartered
- 2 Zucchini, halved and cut into 3cm pieces
- 2 Eggplant, halved and cut into 3cm pieces
- 240g Mushrooms, sliced
- 2 tablespoons Olive oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh Thyme
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 Onion, finely chopped
- 5 Garlic, peeled and crushed
- 1 can Diced tomatoes
- 3/4 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon Tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon Chilli flakes (optional)
- 1 Lemon, juiced
- 1 can Cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
- 160 g Baby spinach leaves
- 1/2 cup Parsley, leaves picked
- 1/2 cup Fresh basil, leaves picked and torn
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan forced.
- Place cubed eggplant in a colander, sprinkle generously with salt and let it sit for at least 30 min. Blot excess salt with a paper.
- Season the squash, zucchini, and mushrooms. Toss squash, zucchini, mushrooms and eggplant in a roasting pan and drizzle generously with olive oil.
- Roast vegetables for 30 minutes, until just tender. Tossing halfway through. Remove from oven and drizzle with ½ lemon juice, sprinkle with thyme and toss.
- Meanwhile, heat the remaining olive oil in the frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes or until softened.
- Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, chilli flakes, ½ teaspoon salt and lemon juice. Cook for 10 minutes on low heat. Stir in the cannellini beans and cook for a further minute or two until the beans have warmed through.
- Stir the roasted vegetables through the bean mixture and remove the pan from the heat.
- Add the spinach and parsley. Stir through until leaves are wilted. Top with fresh basil and drizzle with little Extra virgin olive oil if desire.
- Serve warm with fresh crusty bread and extra lemon squeeze.
Made this with leftover veggies, will make again.
★★★★★