I love this recipe because it is completely customizable to whatever veggies you can find at your local Farmer’s Market or whatever you have leftover in the fridge. This recipe is inspired by Ina Garten’s recipe for ratatouille in her cookbook Cooking for Jeffrey. You will see a lot of recipes inspired by Ina on here because I love her simple approach to food. Whether we want to admit it or not, we all could eat more veggies. This recipe helps accomplish that because you can make it ahead and it is all on one pan, so there’s very little clean up.
What you need:
- 1 yellow squash
- 1 medium/large zucchini
- 1 eggplant
- 1 red bell pepper
- ½ a red onion
- ½ pint of grape tomatoes, halved
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- ¼ cup of olive oil
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
Put it together:
Preheat the oven to 425° F.
Chop up the zucchini, eggplant, bell pepper, and squash to about a 1” dice. You want them to be similar in size so that they cook evenly. You can either put all of the veggies in a bowl to mix in the seasonings, but I honestly just mix it all up on a sheet pan so that I don’t have to clean a bowl (no shame).
Next, slice the half of onion and add it to the pan with the other veggies.
Chop up the garlic and sprinkle it over the veggie mixture.
Finally, add your seasonings and mix it all up. One tip here is to rub the Italian seasoning between your hands while you sprinkle it over the mixture. It may sound weird, but I saw Ina do it on TV, so it must be legit.
After you add all your seasonings, throw it in the oven for 30-40 mins.
I know what you’re thinking, silly Elise forgot the tomatoes. But alas I did not, the tomatoes go on later because they cook quicker than the rest of the veggies.
After 30-40 mins has elapsed, add your tomatoes and let them cook for 12-15 mins.
When your masterpiece comes out of the oven, you can serve it in a variety of ways. Ina suggests you serve it over polenta, which is delicious. If you don’t like polenta, you can mix this into your favorite pasta, mix it into eggs for breakfast, or eat it as a side to some grilled chicken.
The best part of this recipe is that it is so versatile. You can really throw it into anything you’re making and it will add great flavor and you’ll get your veggies for the day, so it’s a win win.
