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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Ratatouille

Recently I had the urge to buy some veggies at the grocery store in an attempt to eat a RAW diet for a week. Since I have been receiving my CSA's I have not shopped for veggies, but I couldn't do a RAW diet solely on squash and potatoes (you CANNOT eat raw potatoes because they can make you VERY sick). So, I put down my rules of local seasonal veggies and bought some eggplant, zucchini and summer squash. After doing the RAW for a week, I still had some left-over and with a purging mentality, I made them all into one meal. My kids love Ratatouille (the movie and the food) for whatever reason, even though they will rarely eat any of these veggies on their own. Here's my version that got quickly gobbled at last night's dinner table:

Ratatouille

1 medium eggplant, peeled & cubed (you can also salt it by putting it in a colander and sprinkling salt over it and letting it sit for an hour - this removes any bitterness)
1 zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced into 1" thick pieces
1 summer squash, halved lengthwise and sliced into 1" thick pieces
1 large onion, halved and sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 C mushrooms (I used dried local mushrooms, reconstituted in warm water, then added the water to the cooking water for the rice I served this over)
1 1/2 C veggie broth
2 T butter
Salt, pepper, parsley & oregano
1/4 C nutritional yeast (or Parmesan cheese)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large oven proof pan melt butter over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and saute until soft. Add rest of veggies except tomatoes and stir thoroughly. Saute for 5 minutes until soft. Add tomatoes, broth and herbs and stir thoroughly. Sprinkle nutritional yeast over top and cover pan. Bake in oven for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, cook 1 C brown rice in 2 1/4C broth.

Serve a heaping spoonful of Ratatouille and sauce over rice, sprinkle with nutritional yeast (or Parmesan cheese).