Roasted Ratatouille

Ratatouille is normally a stew - or a darn cute mouse - but we love it roasted, too. (The stew, not the mouse.) It is a great side dish, but served with a starch (brown rice, polenta, couscous, bread or pasta) it makes a filling main dish. You can toss some fresh basil leaves on top, but I never bother. Sometimes, the simpler the recipe the better it tastes.

Roasted Ratatouille
2 large red bell peppers, seeded and cut into chunks
1 eggplant, cut into chunks
2 zucchini, quartered and cut into chunks
5 plum tomatoes, quartered lengthwise and seeded
2 shallots, peeled and sliced lengthwise
2-3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
Olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.
As you cut your vegetables, toss onto a cookie sheet. Drizzle liberally with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat vegetables evenly. Roast until just tender, about 15 - 20 minutes. Enjoy.

Before roasting

After roasting

Don't mind my bad pictures. With my little 4.0 mega pixels Kodak EasyShare, this is about as good as it gets.