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Layers of thinly sliced veggies baked on a bed of marinara and béchamel sauce makes a perfect meat-free meal or side dish. This is a crowd pleaser - even the kids love this one! And it's pretty too.
Prep Time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 hr
Yield: 9 x 13 inch casserole (serves approx. 6)
Ingredients
1 - 2 cups marinara sauce
1 medium sized eggplant, thinly sliced
1 medium sized zucchini or yellow squash, thinly sliced
3 - 4 small tomatoes, sliced
3 medium-sized potatoes, thinly sliced
2 bell peppers, sliced (I like red and orange for beautiful colour)
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp chilli flakes (or more to taste)
salt & pepper
Béchamel sauce
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 cup warm milk
1/2 tsp nutmeg
salt & pepper
Directions
Prepare your veggies:
Preheat oven to 375F.
Slice all your veggies to roughly the same thickness so that you'll achieve a nice uniform pattern and even cooking. Tip: veggies can be tricky to make the same size - don't worry if they're not perfect!
Bring 2 cups of salted water to a rolling boil, and parboil the sliced potatoes for 2 - 3 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Make béchamel sauce:
Warm milk in a microwave safe dish for about 30 sec to 1 minute - you want it warm, but not boiled.
In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and then add in the flour, stirring to combine, about 3 minutes (don't let the flour brown).
Slowly add the warm milk and whisk until it comes together without clumps. Add your nutmeg and a little salt and pepper. Remove from the heat.
Assemble and bake the ratatouille:
Cover the bottom of your casserole dish with 1 - 2 cups of the marinara sauce (add more to taste if your pan is deep enough, but you don't want it to cover the veggies when you add them in). Sprinkle the marinara with minced garlic, oregano, chilli flakes and thyme, then give it a stir.
Spoon béchamel sauce over the marinara sauce and give it a quick swirl with a spoon.
Assemble your veggies in stacks (this is quicker than placing slices one by one), and place them in the pan in whichever pattern you like (see the photo).
Drizzle veggies with olive oil and sprinkle with more herbs and chilli flakes. Cover loosely with foil and bake for about 1 hr or until veggies are soft and sauce is bubbling. Give it a sprinkle of grated parmesan cheese and serve.
Ratatouille can be made up to a day ahead and re-heated in the oven before serving.
Zhuzh it up!
Serve with crusty bread to mop up the sauce. Here's a great Overnight Baguette recipe you will love.
Attention sandwich lovers! Serve ratatouille in a crusty roll with cheese and pickles for a delicious warm veggie sub sandwich. Meat lovers, add it to your meatball sub. Yum!
This amazing recipe was adapted from a Ratatouille recipe on chefdehome.com