Plant-Based Ratatouille with Fresh Vegetables
Ingredients
- 2-3 fresh tomatoes
- Pinch of sea salt
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 3 tsp fresh herbs
- 1 shallot
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 Asian eggplant
- 1 zucchini
- 1 yellow summer squash
- 20 cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 orange bell pepper
- Sea salt and pepper
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400°F. Pour tomato puree, 1 Tablespoon of olive oil and half of the chopped fresh herbs into a baking dish. Stir in the chopped shallot and garlic. Season with salt and pepper.
Using a mandolin, or a really sharp knife, thinly and evenly slice the vegetables. Make the slices thin, about 1/8 inch (3mm) thick. The thinner, the better!
Make mini-stacks of about 20 slices in sequence. Arrange a few stacks at a time into the prepared baking dish in a concentric spiral from the outer edge to the inside, fanning them out a bit so that you can see the top 1/8 inch of all the slices. Stand them up a little, so you can fit as many vegetable slices in as possible, but you may still have some leftover veggies. Save the smaller rounds for the center of the dish.
Drizzle with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and season with more salt and pepper. Sprinkle the remaining chopped herbs. Cover the dish with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit just inside the dish rim, directly on top of the vegetable arrangement.
Bake for 40 minutes to 1 hour (depending on how thick your vegetable slices are), until vegetables are soft, but not limp. Serve this easy, yet impressive dish with pride! Enjoy!