Oven-roasted ratatouille

Oven-roasted ratatouille on Parmesan polenta

In many parts of the U.S. and Europe, late summer is the time when tomatoes, summer squash, peppers, and eggplant are all ready for harvest. Ratatouille, a combination of precisely these veggies, is perfect to make when your garden explodes with produce. To develop a richly flavored dish, most recipes call for browning each individual vegetable on the stovetop, then combining them and cooking them down into a thick stew. 

I am a huge fan of sheet pan dinners and the hands-off browning capacity of an oven, so I developed an oven recipe. First, I spread out the veggies between a sheet pan and a baking dish and roast them. Once browned, I combine them all into the single baking dish and stew them down in the oven. The result is a gestalt greater than the sum of its parts. It's sweet, fresh, herbal, and creamy from copious olive oil. You can serve it on its own or with crusty French bread. My favorite, nonauthentic way to serve it is on top of my creamy Parmesan polenta.

Oven-Roasted Ratatouille

• 1 red onion, sliced
• 1 eggplant, diced into 1-inch pieces
• 1 bell pepper, any color, diced into 1-inch pieces
• ~1.5 lbs (about 3 medium or 1 large) summer squash, diced into 1-inch pieces
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 t kosher salt
• 1 1/2 t herbes de Provence 
• black pepper
• 1 heaping T minced garlic
• ~3 slicing tomatoes (sliced) or 10 oz cherry tomatoes
• 1 T red wine vinegar (optional)
• fresh basil (optional)

Preheat oven to 425. You'll be using 2 pans: a large casserole dish or baking pan, and a large sheet pan. This will help spread the veggies out so that they can brown quickly and evenly. Distribute all ingredients except tomatoes, garlic, vinegar, and basil between the two pans and stir together. You don't have to divide it super evenly because it is all going to be mixed together in the end. 

Bake for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. After the 30 minutes are up, combine all the veggies, tomatoes, garlic, and vinegar into your casserole dish or baking pan and cook for another 15 minutes.  This will meld your veggies together into a silky stew. Garnish with basil if using.