Ratatouille With Herbed Brown Rice: Fruits and Veggies Monday
Wow! Hi everybody- Steemit has been down all day so it’s been next to impossible for me to get a #fruitsandveggiesmonday post up. Then, as I’m working on some of my famous pumpkin bread in the kitchen, my husband yells “Steemit is back up” and I immediately got to work on Fruits and Veggies Monday.
After missing last week I really didn’t want to stomach another week being absent… so thank you to the Steemit gurus for making this post possible :)
I don’t know if you know this but Lena, @lenasveganliving, is quite a gangster in the kitchen. I think we may forget that sometimes being that she hosts #fruitsandveggiesmonday rather than ‘participating’. I mean check out this Crispy Tofu Plate she whipped up last week… that plate is a piece of art I tell ya. I’m not even a fan of Tofu but Lena and someone else around here (cough, cough @pusteblume, cough) make tofu look Tofrikken-licious. Let’s give a big round of applause to the gangsters of Tofu 👏👏👏👏- Thanks, Lena, for doing what you do!
Anyway it’s good to be back Monday peeps and I’ve got a special recipe for you…
Ratatouille With Herbed Brown Rice
I can’t believe I’ve never made this delightfully perfect dish before. Don’t let the spice, Herbs de Provence, intimidate you- if you’ve never made this either than I highly recommend you change that 😋.
Just look at how gorgeous it is… needless to say I loved it and think you will too.
Ingredients
1 Can Crushed Tomatoes
1/4 Tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
4 Garlic Cloves (minced)
1 Tbs Fresh Basil (Chopped)
1 Tbs Herbs de Provence
1/2 Tsp Sea Salt
1/2 Tsp Black Pepper
1 Tbs Chili Powder
1 Red Onion (sliced)
1 Zucchini (sliced)
1 Yellow Squash (sliced)
1 Japanese Eggplant (sliced)
4 Roma Tomatoes (sliced)
Your start up will look something like that. I start by mixing the “sauce” first. Pour your can of tomatoes in a medium bowl, add the garlic, apple cider vinegar and all of your spices and mix well.
Don’t forget to add your chopped basil in there too!
Now take that “sauce” mixture and line the bottom of a casserole dish or whatever dish you’re using with a good amount (I used about 2/3rds of my sauce here).
Go ahead and pre heat your oven to 350 while you start your slicing (yes this prep work took a long time but the beauty of the finished product is well worth it).
I made my slices on the thicker side :)
The onion was actually the most difficult to gauge the thickness but we love onion so I went with thick.
I know what you’re thinking… ‘these are not onions’… I didn’t take a picture of those so am hoping you accept these sliced tomatoes instead :)
After slicing all of your vegetables, get to work on lining them up in your perfectly sauced dish. I started with what color I thought would be pretty next to each other but you can line them up any way you please.
This part actually takes quite some time too so be patient, the end product will be worth it.
So with the onions, I sliced them and realized the outer rings were too large… I cut them in half and stacked the halves on top of each other to maintain the line of the veggies.
Once I got all of the dish filled (I had a little left over but if you have a slightly bigger dish than you won’t) I took a picture… haha. It’s just so darn pretty to me.
Then I washed some organic brown rice and put it in a pot of water. I added freshly chopped tomato, onion, basil, sea salt, black pepper and herbs de provence.
You should evenly distribute your “set aside” sauce over the top of your veggies dish and I added more chopped basil and herbs.
I drizzled a little olive oil over top, so the veggies would stay moist and popped it right in the oven for about 45 minutes.
From here, I actually took it right back out and loosely wrapped foil over it and popped it right back in the oven for about 45 minutes.
And it came out looking like this 😋.…
And this…
The house smelled like a professional cooking show. I quickly looked up what herbs de provence was and where it’s used most often and came up with French cuisines. This would have to be the first time I made our house smell like French cuisine. The Mr. and I liked it so much we decided we need to try more French food/cooking… Next time we should pair this with a nice jammy Bordeaux. Definitely have a go at this dish if you’re like me and have shyed away from French foods- you won’t regret it.
Thank you so much for barring with me and all of my pictures. I appreciate your support and would love to hear about your experience with Ratatouille.
As always Pura Vida ✌️
Wow! That is a fantastic presentation! I have always been too lazy to do it in such a pretty manner, but I may have to take the time next time to do it like yours. Especially if I ever make it for others. I do love that combination of flavors for sure. We get so much eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes here during the summer it is just silly not to make ratatouille a few times during the season. I made a one-pot version one time that I tried to serve over mashed white beans, but the beans turned out so runny it ended up being this creamy ratatouille soup-ish thing. Tasted delicious, but looked a little off-putting. Haha, live and learn, right?
Totally love and learn… if you made this for any guest I think they’d be impressed. The presentation alone is very pretty and don’t get me started on the flavor combination. I don’t think I’ve ever even eaten Ratatouille before this night… sometimes I really believe I’m living under a rock 🤷🏼♀️
Although a one pot ratatouille sounds very convenient! Thank you for stopping by @plantstoplanks - I always appreciate your nice comments :)
Haha, I have one of those rock moments every now and again, too. Like nice cream. I only just made it this year and am kicking myself for not introducing the frozen banana dream into my rotation sooner! 😜
Haha… I haven’t even had nice cream yet. I blame it on not having a food processor but that’s probably a lie. Now I feel like this is a challenge… challenge accepted… nice cream is on the menu next week - I’ll keep you apprised my friend :)
I'll have my bowl ready...
😋
love love love this my friend :) I should totally make this, so healthy and you make it look do-able! I'm sure your home smelled heavenly, @puravidaville!
Oh I’m glad you like this one. I can’t believe I’ve never made it before (where have I been). Everything about this dish turned out great and it was very easy- just a little time consuming with the prep. Thank you for stopping by my friend… you rock!
Haha, my entry for this week was about to be ratatouille but I couldn't make it on time before Steemit server crashed :) Your version looks delicious! I just love how colorful this dish is! And combining with brown rice will definitely keep me full longer :)
Oh man… that would have been cool to have two ratatouille’s… the Steemit platform crashing really messed me up too. Looking forward to seeing you next week then. Thank you for stopping by @kremena.shtereva and I’m glad you liked my post :)
Firstly @puravidaville you are HILARIOUS. One of your tags should be comedy. I always get a chuckle from reading your posts tofrikken-funny ;) And then, phew, glad I'm looking back over the winners. I struggled with steemit as well but just gave up and didn't realize it was anything more than my usual dodgy farm connection. Almost missed this! What a delicious recipe. I have also never made it but now I think I should. Mine won't taste as good as yours looks because it doesn't come with a side dish of chuckles....
Haha… right on, I’m glad you get a laugh or two. :) My husband wants me to enter a comedy open mic contest but I have once and it was about poo (yes, you read that right… poo, as in poop) and whenever I try to think of something else that’s funny, I realize it, too, is about poo 🤷🏼♀️ All of my funny stories involve poo and I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea… haha… so I save them for house parties instead :)
You should definitely have a go at this. I never had it before this night nor cooked it and I’m not sure why… ratatouille is bomb! Just light up a doob and yours will taste a thousand times better than mine :) I’m glad you liked my F’s and V’s Monday @buckaroo- it’s always nice having you over :)
@puravidaville I have an idea then, maybe you can back me up on this one @buckaroo. I really wanted to extend the o’s just now and call you @buckaroooooooo but I knew it wouldn’t alert you.
What was I saying? ...I came here to say uhm.. I knew what I wanted to say just a few seconds ago and then I went and copied that YouTube link.... oh ya! My wife!!
@puravidaville, just take some screen shots then of conversations like the one you’re having above this one. Just reading the poo and poop talk is funny. Whenever you get into some funny conversations, just maybe take a screen shot maybe and then pile em all up together, tag it #comedyopenmic and see what hapoops.
That's a bit of a crappy idea @dandays ;)
💩
Oh, @puravidaville, this doesn't only make the house smell like a professional cooking show, this also looks like something I'd be happy to get in a nice restaurant! Amazing presentation! I'm sure that the taste is on point as well, with herbs de provence this must be heavenly! At one point I was using that herb mix on a daily basis, but somehow I've forgotten its existence... Thanks for reminding me of that, I know what I'll use for seasoning the next time I'll be cooking! :)
Nice! I don’t think I’ve ever used it in my cooking until this dish… I’m in love! The herbs are a perfect mixture and to making any tomato based sauce surely would turn out great using herbs de Provence. Plus the name sounds quite fancy :). Thanks for stopping by @jasmink looking forward to your herbs de Provence adventures !
Herbs de Provence, pronounced in fluent French, that really sounds fancy, haha! Congratulations for the second place this week, you truly deserved it with this lovely recipe! :)
Thank you @jasmink! All of the entries in this contest are deserving… super impressed with everyone.
this looks delicious!
Thank you @proanima- it truly was!
You are so funny Puravidavilla for calling me a gangster in the kitchen, while you are a gangster yourself, lol. Your Ratatouille is quite a the creation that I can totally smell it trough the screen. I bet it tastes as good as it looks. Well done my Dear 🍒 🍌🍑🌿🍍🍓🍇
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Hahaha… thanks @lenasveganliving- a compliment from you is a compliment indeed. I’m actually kicking myself for not making ratatouille before… it really did turn out good. Plus it pictured so well :) Thank you for being the Fruits and Veggies Queen Gangsta… you rock!
Anything with brown rice is great.
Haha… then you’d love Ratatouille. It turned out so yum! Thanks for stopping by @joeyarnoldvn !