Serves 6–8
You know the movie Ratatouille about the mouse who cooks? When we watched the movie, we wanted to make ratatouille for ourselves! We were able to find the ingredients all at our local farmers’ market on a weekend in July. It was cool to find all the different colors of vegetables. Did you know they have white eggplants? Have you ever seen purple tomatoes? There’s even squash that’s striped like a tiger! New foods are really exciting and we love to go on a food adventure discovering new stuff–this recipe is the perfect start.
This recipe makes so much ratatouille that we had it for lunch for almost a whole week! Next time we made it, we put it in containers for the freezer, so it’s easy to save and have the fresh flavors of summer when it’s snowy.
INGREDIENTS
• 2 medium-sized eggplants, diced ½ inch
• 2 bell peppers, diced ½ inch
• 2 large tomatoes, diced ½ inch
• 1 large zucchini, diced ½ inch
• 1 large yellow squash, diced ½ inch
• 1 red onion, peeled
• 1 (14.5 oz) can stewed tomatoes
• 3 Tbsp lard or olive oil, divided
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• ¼ cup Bone Stock
• 1 tsp thyme
• ½ tsp rosemary
• ½ tsp sage
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
INSTRUCTIONS AND HOW KIDS CAN HELP
1. Pour the canned tomatoes into a large bowl and, with a masher, crush the canned tomatoes into thick liquid. If you don’t have a masher, little hands work perfectly too!.
2. Using one tablespoon of oil, sauté the onions, garlic, and eggplant until softened, about 8 minutes.
3. Once the cooked vegetables are finished, add cooked vegetables and the remaining diced vegetables with broth into large bowl and mix.
4. Add smashed tomatoes, herbs, salt, and pepper and mix until ingredients are evenly distributed.
5. Evenly spread remaining oil over 9-by-13-inch glass or other baking dish.
6. Pour mixed vegetables into baking dish.
7. Cook uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
