Ratatouille

Traditionally, this is a French peasant dish. Realistically, this is a fancy side dish of baked squash. This variant is quite easy to make free from onion and garlic, for our special-diet friends. Pairs well with pork and chicken. Can be meal-prepped to bake later, but not frozen.

Required Ingredients

• 1 zucchini squash
• 1 yellow squash
• 4-5 roma tomatoes
• 1 orange bell pepper
• Rosemary
• Thyme
• Salt
• Olive oil

Optional Ingredients

Be careful adding the extras to this one, especially the eggplant. An additional or larger vessel may be needed; the base recipe is a tight fit in a 9-inch cast iron.

• very small sweet onion
• Garlic, any type, minced or powdered
• very small eggplant
• provolone cheese, deli sliced

Process

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F (if baking immediately)


2. Slice into quarters lengthwise, and then chop into 1/4 inch bits, the zucchini, yellow squash, and optional eggplant.


3. Rough chop the tomatoes to a similar size to the squash.


4. Seed and mince the bell pepper; the pieces of this one should be a bit smaller.


5. Optionally, peel and mince the onion; smaller bits like the bell pepper.


6. Contain all of the vegetables into a cast iron skillet (or midsized casserole dish if that turns out to be too small)


7. Season generously with rosemary, thyme, salt, and optional garlic


8. Add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil


9. Stir and toss all of it together into a healthy medly/salad type thing, with all the ingredients well distributed. Cover with foil or an oven-safe lid.


10. If prepping for later, chill in the fridge for up to three days. Do not freeze. Remove top and mix again before baking if this step is taken.


11. Bake at 350 F for 35 minutes or until squash is soft


12. Optionally, top with provolone slices and return to oven for 5 minutes or so, until cheese is melted.


13. Serve hot and immediately after baking.