Ratatouille my  way
By: Giangi Townsend
Published: Saturday, August 18, 2012 - 7:02am

Ingredients




2 eggplants, sliced and scored on both sides
4-6 zucchini
3-6 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, peeled and thinly sliced
10 small red – orange bell peppers, seeded and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 large garlic clove, minced
2 pound ripe tomatoes, peeled and quartered
2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil
Salt and pepper
½ cup red wine

Preparation

1 Lightly salt the eggplant slices and place on paper towel to drain for about 30 minutes. Rinse and pat dry. 2 Slice the zucchini thickly and set them aside. 3 Pour 3 tablespoons of the olive oil into a large frying pan and when hot, lightly brown the onions, peppers and zucchini slices. 4 Remove the vegetables to a casserole and add the eggplant slices to the frying pan or saucepan. 5 Cook to brown both sides lightly and place in the casserole with the other vegetables. Add extra oil as needed while frying the vegetables. 6 Add the garlic and tomatoes to the oil and cook for 1 minute. Add the garlic and tomatoes to the rest of the vegetables with the remaining olive oil in the frying pan. 7 Add basil, salt, pepper and wine and bring to the boil over moderate heat. 8 Cover and reduce to simmering. If the vegetables need moisture during cooking, add a little more wine. 9 When the vegetables are tender, remove them from the casserole to a serving dish and rapidly boil any remaining liquid in the pan to reduce to about 2 tablespoons. Pour over the ratatouille to serve.

About

Sharing with Cook, Coupon, Work  is so much fun, and I enjoy preparing a meal around the specials that our local and nationwide grocery stores have to offer.  
Lots of vegetables and fruits on special and what a perfect opportunity to prepare a ratatouille. A medley of eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes and bell peppers, all of course blended with wine. Yummy!!  
The original ratatouille requires green bell peppers.  This is one vegetable that I am not thrilled to eat, therefore I substitute it with yellow and red bell peppers and really enjoyed the combination. Make sure that you correct the seasoning if  using yellow or red peppers as they are a bit on the sweeter side. I used red wine because I did not have white wine on hand, but either is just fine. 
Ratatouille is a perfect side dish to any fish , meat or chicken.  We had pan seared chicken tights alongside.