Skillet Ratatouille
A hearty, rustic French stew of fresh garden vegetables made quick & easy in a skillet, served with roasted yam.
My vegetable garden is on its last hurrah, but managed to produce one final eggplant a few days ago, plus a few bell peppers and a big handful of delightfully ripe cherry tomatoes.
I love a good ratatouille—a simple, soul-warming French vegetable stew made with eggplant, zucchini, peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic, and herbs that’s usually slowly cooked or roasted until tender and full of flavor. It’s incredible.
But I had no where near enough vegetables to roast up a big batch, nor the time, as it can take an hour or more to cook.
More importantly, it was lunch time, and I was starving.
What happened next was an idea I should have thought of sooner—just pile the scaled-down vegetable quantities I had on hand into a big skillet, quickly saute everything together, and hope for the best.
I absolutely loved the results.
When eggplant, zucchini, peppers, and tomatoes are cooked at a higher heat in olive oil and garlic until they collapse into something rich, silky, and deeply flavored, you’ve got a winner.
You can toss this ratatouille with hot pasta and Parmesan cheese, or spoon it while it’s warm over a good, thick piece of buttered & toasted bread, or just eat it as a side dish with chicken, fish, tofu, or baked potatoes.
The zucchini and eggplant should be sliced pretty thin, a quarter-inch or so.
Once the zucchini, peppers and onion are quickly cooked in the skillet, add the chopped fresh tomatoes, garlic and seasonings and keep cooking for a few minutes.
When it’s done, it will look all soft and melted and delicious like the picture on the right.
Just add a handful of chopped fresh parsley and it’s ready to serve.
Looks so pretty, right?
I’ll tell you, it was incredibly delicious — I nearly did cartwheels.
I absolutely loved this ratatouille over half of a roasted red yam! You could also roast a sweet potato, regular potato, or other squash.
Here’s a really easy way to cook a yam in 30 minutes:
Pre-heat the oven to 375F.
Cut the yam in half, then poke the outside (skin side) with a fork a few times.
Drizzle with olive oil and a little salt and pepper.
Place cut-side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Drizzle a little more olive oil on top.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the edges are golden and crispy.
Whoever came up with this trick for baking yams is a genius!
I’d spotted it online a few times, and it really does work like a charm — big flavor, low effort, and just as good reheated for lunch the next day.
Spoon the ratatouille over the squash, shower it with Parmesan, and finish with a drizzle of olive oil.
Nothing fancy, just really good.
Thanks for reading, friends!
Skillet Ratatouille
This deeply flavorful vegetable dish is made easy in a skillet, and cooks quickly too.
Ingredients:
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more as needed
• 1 shallot, or half of a yellow or white onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
• 3-4 medium/small zucchini, sliced thin
• 1 small/medium eggplant, sliced thin
• 2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes (or one 15 ounce can)
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar (or apple cider or rice vinegar)
• 1/4 cup Italian Parsley, roughly chopped
Directions:
• Add the butter, olive oil, chopped shallot (or other onion) and red bell pepper to a large skillet, cook on medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes, until soft and glossy-looking.
• Add the zucchini and eggplant to the pan (and if it looks really dry, add a little more olive oil).
• Let this mixture cook down for 5-6 minutes on medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables soften. (Note that stirring occasionally helps the vegetables to get crispy brown edges = more flavor.
• Add the chopped tomatoes, garlic, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and vinegar to the skillet. Continue to cook on medium heat for 5-6 minutes, turning occasionally to prevent burning.
• Add half the parsley, and stir to combine, use the rest to garnish the top of each serving along with a drizzle of olive oil.