Ratatouille
This quick and easy Ratatouille recipe is super healthy French cuisine.
Ratatouille is a vibrant and flavourful dish that hails from the beautiful region of Provence in southern France. It is a vegetarian dish that showcases the abundance of fresh vegetables found in the Mediterranean. Ratatouille is not only a culinary delight but also a celebration of the simplicity and natural goodness of seasonal produce.
At its core, Ratatouille is a stewed vegetable medley that typically includes eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, onions, and tomatoes. These vegetables are the stars of the dish, each bringing its unique texture and taste to the ensemble. The combination of flavors creates a harmonious and well-balanced experience that is both satisfying and comforting.
In this recipe, I do not include eggplant, in order to speed up the cooking process.
People sometimes ask what to eat with ratatouille. I think it can be used as a tasty accompaniment to most kinds of meat, or on its own as a simple vegetarian meal. But it can also be served up with a nice piece of quiche or something similar.
It is really delicious and this vegan ratatouille recipe is extremely easy and quick to make.
This dish consists of sautéed vegetables that melt together to create a colourful and yummy side dish. It is of course also a well-loved vegetarian dish.
You may recall the film Ratatouille by Pixar which is about a rat that wants to be a chef in Paris. It is a lovely movie which, if you haven’t seen it, you should (also as an adult). It may provide some cooking inspiration.
Vegetarian side dish
I made this yesterday as part of a healthy diet we are attempting to follow to shed a few kilos. In our house, we are very much meat-eaters, but it is important to follow a good balanced diet including vegetables, and this dish is one we all like.
We have several vegan and vegetarian recipes on this site, like our vegan Italian salad for example. Just search for vegan or vegetarian in the search bar.
If you are interested in more vegetarian and vegan recipes you can check out Wow, It’s Veggie for more delicious ideas!
Quite often other vegetables are used in this recipe, such as aubergines and carrots, but they increase the cooking time and I was looking to make something quick and easy.
This was ready in about 15 minutes. Of course, you could also add more olive oil or some thyme for taste if you prefer, but I was looking to keep the calories as low as possible.
And, I think the taste of the vegetables was great as it came, with just some basil and seasoning.
Anyhow, I hope you enjoy making this and find your own way of improving it!
If you do try this recipe, please let me know how you get on in the comments section below!
How to make traditional Ratatouille
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Quick and Easy Ratatouille
This easy and quick recipe will give you a delicious vegan dish which can be a meal in itself. We use it as a side dish for meat or fish.
Ingredients
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed and sliced
- 1 small courgette (zucchini)
- 1 yellow pepper (or red if you prefer)
- 80g button mushrooms, chopped
- 3 ripe tomatoes
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- Chopped fresh basil
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Pre-chop all the ingredients. The courgette should be cut into quarters (lengthways twice) and then diced. The tomatoes should be quartered and the pepper finely chopped.
- Heat olive oil in a pan. I use my wok for this.
- Cook the onion and garlic together on a medium heat for about 2 minutes on the hob. Then add the courgette and mushrooms and cook for a further 3 minutes.
- Then add the yellow pepper for another 2 minutes before adding the chopped tomatoes.
Add the red wine vinegar and basil and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring the vegetables now and again. - Finally season to taste with salt and pepper.
- These quantities will feed about 3 persons. If you wish to feed more you could add an aubergine, which would make the meal more authentic, but will add to the cooking time.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
3Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 117Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 111mgCarbohydrates: 16gFiber: 4gSugar: 6gProtein: 4g
This nutrition information was automatically calculated by Nutritionix, but may not be 100% accurate.
This is very similar to a ratatouille-like dish we make at our house – ours is a bit different, as I like to add red peppers and a few cans of diced tomatoes. It becomes a bit of a vege stew. Your seasoning differs from ours, too. We really like oregano and marjoram, but the basil sounds lovely, we will give it a try. This is a great favorite of ours, we could eat it every week, but zucchini needs to be in season. Similar to you, we forgo the eggplant, not BP because of the cooking time, but because it isn’t a favorite of mine. One shortcut you may like, however, when you are cooking vegetables with variable cooking times, is pre-cooking the longer cooking veges in the microwave (like the eggplant and carrots which could be added to this recipe, or root vegetables for a tray bake). Thank you for another variation on ratatouille!
I like the tip about pre-cooking in the microwave! Thanks for that. Will give it a go. I have been using my microwave a lot for steaming vegetables lately. It works a treat!