Ratatouille

Ratatouille (pronounced (rat-a-too-ee); is a traditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish, originating in Nice. The full name of the dish is ratatouille niçoise

And this was a big hit with my hubby. It's been cold & damp out here in the desert. And so to have this when he came home from work was a wonderful event!
My only complaint about this dish? I used to many bowls for each of the veggies.

Here's the recipe - serves 8

1/3 cup olive oil
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves
1 can (28 oz) peeled tomatoes with juice
4 bell peppers, julienned
1 large eggplant, peeled and diced
3 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch slices
Salt and black pepper

Heat a large, deep skillet (I used my wok) over medium heat. Add olive oil and onion. Saute until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Remove onion and garlic from the pan and set aside.

Quarter the tomatoes, reserving any juice. (I put this in a low sided casserole dish and pulled each tomato out with a spoon then cut it in the casserole dish to preserve all the juice. Moving them over to the side once cut). Set aside.

Layer the bottom of the skillet with the peppers, salt & pepper and 1/4 of the onion-garlic mixture.

Then layer with the the eggplant, more salt & pepper and another 1/4 of the garlic mixture.

Next layer is the zucchini with 1/4 of the garlic mixture

Last layer is the tomatoes with 1/4 of the garlic mixture. Pour in the reserved juice and top with remaining 2 tablespoons of oil.

Cover and simmer over very low heat for 35 - 40 minutes.

Recipe calls to then cook uncovered an additional 10 minutes to reduce the liquid, but I left it in because Hubby loves the juice.

Remember there is olive oil in this so if you want to eat with whole-grain pasta or brown rice, cook it with the tomato juice instead of the olive oil.

My stove has a Low, which just keeps things warm. It doesn't even actually simmer. I think the stove is old and it's not suppose to be that way. But I put this on about 2:30 and let it sit on low all afternoon. Served it at 6:30 and the flavors were blended perfectly and the vegetables weren't all mushy, had a tiny bit of crunch to them. We don't like our veggies too crunchy. But these were perfect.