Paleo Ratatouille

So if anyone has children or is a child at heart (ME), you've seen the movie Ratatouille.  As cute as cartoon mice are, I know that no one in their right mind can stomach the thought of them being associated with anything on our plate!

Ratatouille is actually a French dish that many have heard of but most Americans have never tried.  In an attempt to expand my list of Paleo-friendly meals, I decided to do some research on this dish, and formulated a recipe of my own.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely diced
• 1 cup organic tomato puree
• ¼ tsp. oregano
• ¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 small eggplant*
• 1 zucchini*
• 1-2 yellow squash*
• 3-5 Roma tomatoes*
• 1 red bell pepper*
• Few sprigs fresh thyme
• Salt and pepper to taste

            * When shopping, make sure you purchase veggies that are about the same width for uniform cooking and layering

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DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In a small sauce pan,start by sautéing the onion and garlic in 1 tbsp. of olive oil until they are slightly softened, but not completely translucent.  Add the tomato puree, oregano, crushed red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.  Allow it to simmer for about 5 minutes.
3. Pour this mixture into bottom of round or oval baking dish.
4. To prep your veggies, start by trimming and discarding the ends of each.  Core and seed the red bell pepper.  Using a mandolin, or a sharp knife, slice the eggplant, zucchini, squash, red pepper and tomatoes evenly into 1/16 to 1/8 inch slices.
5. As you slice your veggies, place them into a large bowl to coat and toss generously with salt, pepper and the remaining olive oil.  Arrange the slices of prepared vegetables on the tomato sauce starting from the outer edge of the pan, working your way around to the center of the pan, alternating veggies (e.g. eggplant-> zucchini-> tomato-> yellow squash-> bell pepper).  Depending on the size of your veggies and the pan you use, you may have some veggies left over.
6. Sprinkle the leaves from the thyme sprigs, omitting the stems, atop the veggies.
7. Although it may look like you don’t have much sauce, it will bubble up while baking so cover dish with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit within the pan.
8. Place in the oven to bake for between 45 to 55 minutes, until vegetables are cooked, but still have some bite (not mush).

This dish is great as a side dish with chicken, turkey, steak… I found that if you like avocado, this pairs perfectly with a few slices of avocado!! Yummmmm! Nom-nom-nom! I can eat an entire pan of this with avocado so I hope you enjoy it!