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Ratatouille Bruschetta
Ratatouille Bruschetta is a summer vegetable stew spooned over toasted Italian bread slices.
Ingredients
2 pounds eggplant
2 pounds zucchini
1 1/2 pounds vine ripe garden tomatoes (or the best ripe tomatoes you can find)
1 1/2 pounds plum tomatoes
3 tablespoons kosher salt
1 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 large red onion, (3/4 pound)
4 large garlic cloves (2 tablespoons) minced
2 pounds mixed bell peppers (red, orange and yellow) about one each, diced into one-inch pieces
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, about four sprigs removed from stems
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Zest from half a lemon
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon good quality balsamic vinegar
20 large basil leaves
1 loaf Italian bread or French baguette, sliced
1 large garlic clove to rub on the grilled or toasted bread
Grated Parmesan cheese to sprinkle over each Bruschetta
Instructions
- Lay out three sheet pans with racks placed in each.
- Peel and slice the eggplant into one-inch thick slices. Lay out on one of the sheet pans.
- Do not peel the zucchini but slice as you did for the eggplant.
- Dice all tomatoes into large one-inch dice and lay out on the third sheet pan.
- Use one tablespoon of salt for each sheet pan. Sprinkle salt on both sides of the eggplant and zucchini.
- Sprinkle the last tablespoon over the tomatoes.
- Let all three pans sit for two hours turning every 30 minutes in a stacked formation as shown with tomatoes on top to press out additional liquid.
- Go read a book or watch Ratatouille on DVD. 🙂
- After two hours, rinse salt from eggplant and zucchini and dry with paper towels and set aside.
- Transfer the tomatoes to a strainer over a bowl to collect more water until you are ready to use. No need to rinse off salt.
- Discard all liquid collected from the three vegetables.
- OK, the hard part is over. From here it is pretty simple.
- Take the now dried eggplant and dice into one-inch cubes.
- Do the same for the zucchini.
- In a very large skillet or sauté pan (ours was 12” across and 3” deep), heat two tablespoons of the olive oil over high heat until just shy of smoking.
- Add half the eggplant and sauté for 6-8 minutes until lightly browned.
- Remove to a large bowl and add two more tablespoons of the oil. Once hot, add the second half of the eggplant and once cooked, remove to the same bowl.
- Add two more tablespoons of oil and add half the zucchini and cook for about four minutes until browned.
- Remove to the same bowl as the eggplant and add two more tablespoons of oil to the pan.
- Cook the second half of the zucchini and add to the bowl.
- Add two more tablespoons of the oil and once hot, add all of the bell peppers.
- Cook for eight minutes stirring around with a wooden spoon. Remove to the same bowl as the other vegetables.
- Add two more tablespoons of the oil and reduce the heat to medium high.
- Once hot, add the red onions and sauté for five minutes then add the garlic.
- Cook for one more minute then add the drained tomatoes along with the fresh thyme, salt, pepper and lemon zest and cook over medium high for five minutes.
- Add tomato paste, balsamic vinegar and the entire bowl of the cooked vegetables.
- Gently stir, cover and cook over medium low for 20 minutes. Occasionally stir gently to make sure it doesn’t stick.
- After 20 minutes, remove lid and remove from heat.
- Stack the 20 basil leaves and with a knife, slice into thin ribbons and add to the mixture.
- Slice the bread and oil both sides then broil or grill and rub with a little raw garlic.
- To serve, top each grilled bread slice with a few spoons of the ratatouille, drizzle a little olive oil over the top and finish with some grated Parmesan cheese.
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