What’s Cooking: Quick and Easy One Pan Ratatouille

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Looking for an easy side dish? Have a few of these vegetables in the crisper you need to use up? Ratatouille is the answer.

First a little history

The word ratatouille originates from the Occitan ratatolha and is related to the French ratouiller and tatouiller. The verb touiller means “to stir up,” and from the late 18th century indicated a coarse stew. (Wikipedia)

Ratatouille was once considered peasant food due to its preparation style of rough cut vegetables, and the fact it could be eaten with cheap rice, pasta or dipped into with chunks of bread. In recent times it’s become more high end, at least in the culinary imagination, and is often served in fine restaurants. And it sounds fancy!

Quick and Easy Ratatouille

Ingredients:

2 small eggplants
1 small onion
2 bell peppers
2 small zucchinis
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp Italian seasoning
3/4 lb ripe tomatoes
1/4 cup fresh basil

While listening to a favorite playlist on Alexa, finely chop the eggplants and onion. In a large non-stick skillet, heat the oil, then add the eggplant and onion. Season with salt. Cook five minutes, stirring occasionally.

Chop the bell peppers and cut the zucchini into small chunks. Add peppers, zucchini, garlic, and Italian seasoning to the pan. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally.

Finely chop the tomatoes and add to the pan, once the other ingredients are nice and soft. Stir (or not) slightly, cover, and allow to simmer. Once it’s all done, add basil and allow to wilt. Serve and enjoy!

Like most peasant dishes, there’s really no wrong way to make this, once you have the basic ingredients. Ratatouille can be cooked for an hour, or it can be made in twenty minutes, which is what I did. It makes a great side dish, and there are always leftovers. It it plain, or sprinkle with parmesan. Delicious!