Ratatouille is a french dish that has so many different variations. Some people make it on the stovetop and some bake it. As I was scouring the internet for recipes, I noticed that many of them were way too many steps and had way too many ingredients. So, I decided I’m going to make a much simpler version that I can make in large batches for meal prep.  This recipe makes one small tray of ratatouille but you can easily double it for meal prep purposes.

Ingredients:

-1–2 Thai eggplants (if you can’t find these, get 1 regular large eggplant and cut your larger slices in half)

-2 yellow squash

-2 zucchinis

-1 can fire roasted tomato

-Dash of garlic powder

-Dash of salt

-Dash of rosemary

-Dash of thyme

-A handful of fresh basil or a squeeze of basil paste

-1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or whatever red vinegar you have (eg pomegranate vinegar, etc)

-A pinch of red pepper flakes (dont overdo it! This is not meant to be a spicy dish!)

Instructions:

1.) Slice veggies into very thin pieces using a sharp knife or mandolin. Place them on a sheet lined with parchment paper and roast in the oven at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

2.) Once vegetables are roasted to your liking, let them cool to the touch and start assembling. If you would like your tray of ratatouille to look presentable, choose slices of veggies that are about the same size and make a pattern (I was doing squash, bell pepper, zuchinni, then eggplant.)

3.) Mix all the herbs into a bowl with the vinegar and fire roasted tomato. Pour the size on top of the assembled tray of veggies. Bake in the oven at 325-350 for another 15 minutes or until the veggies have completely cooked through (to check this, check on the eggplant as it takes the longest to cook.)

Enjoy!

NOTES:

1.) I’ve found that ratatouille tastes even better the next day! Something about the way the tomato sauce seeps into the veggies and the flavors get to settle in together. If possible, make this dish the night before a dinner party or gathering that you intend on serving it.

2.) The reason I suggest using Thai eggplants as opposed to the regular ones is Thai eggplants are one uniform width throughout the entire eggplant whereas the regular ones get larger in the bottom and skinnier at the top which makes for a less consistent visual if you are laying wide pieces and small pieces next to each other. Make do with what you can find though and cut the larger eggplant slices in half so its more consistent with the width of the other veggies next to it like the squash and zucchini.

3.) You can add more sauce to this dish if you’d like it to be saucier.