Southern Ratatouille
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Recipe by:
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 medium yellow onions, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 2 cups roughly chopped eggplant
  • 2 cups roughly chopped mirliton squash
  • 3 sweet peppers or bell peppers, cut into chunks
  • 2 tablespoons minced garlic
  • 1 cup roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley
  • 2 large Creole tomatoes, quartered
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • ¼ cup chicken stock
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • ½ teaspoon dried thyme
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 6 medium-sized pods of okra
  • Extra-virgin olive oil, for finishing
  • Flat-leaf parsley, for garnish
Instructions
  1. In a large skillet with a heavy lid over medium-high heat, add the oil. Once hot, add the onions. On top of the onions, add the eggplant, squash, peppers, garlic, and parsley. Once the onions begin to brown, about 5 minutes, stir the mixture by scraping from the bottom with a spatula and incorporate all of the vegetables.
  2. Lower the heat to medium and add the tomatoes, tomato paste, and chicken stock. Add the rosemary, oregano, and thyme, and season with salt and pepper.
  3. Stir the mixture and add the okra pods on top. Cover the skillet, lower the heat, and let simmer for 15 minutes until the vegetables are cooked through but not breaking down. Turn off the heat and let rest before serving.
  4. For serving family-style, place the skillet of ratatouille on the table, drizzle with olive oil, and garnish with a sprig of parsley.
Notes
In most American homes, this would be served hot or at room temperature as a vegetable side dish; a baked chicken would be delicious with this ratatouille. Chop the vegetables into large chunks and although they should be cooked through, stop short of stewing them down until they turn to mush. Find the smaller eggplant varieties (even the slender Ichiban Japanese eggplant) that are tender with fewer seeds. Mirliton squash is easily found in Louisiana (Asian markets, too) but feel free to substitute zucchini or yellow squash. The okra pods are a tasty addition, but to avoid releasing their sticky mucus, don’t stir the okra into the vegetables but rather let them steam on top.
Recipe by Acadiana Table at https://acadianatable.com/?p=27096