Cooking for Alan – Dinner #12 Roasted Ratatouille with Creamy Parmesan Polenta
It’s early September. A prime time of year to use some of my favorite vegetables. Cooking for Alan – Dinner # 12’s main course Roasted Ratatouille features a bounty of freshness. Eggplant, zucchini, tomato, bell peppers and onion. What makes this dish amazing is taking the time to roast them in the oven. I’m not sure exactly why roasting anything makes it more delicious, but trust me, it does.
Veggies prepped and ready to roast in a 450 degree oven.
I have modified Ina’s original recipe a bit, so I have provided my version to you in the recipe box below. The biggest difference between my version and Ina’s is that I added shrimp at the very end. Doing this allowed the shrimp to release their juices and help create an unbelievable light sauce. This made me very happy because I was concerned her original version would be too dry. I also added extra moisture by sauteing cherry tomatoes towards the end as well as the shrimp.
Lastly, I served it over creamy parmesan polenta as Ina had recommended. Since I’ve made her polenta before, I knew I needed to cut way back on her recommended amount of salt. I mean, you add well over a cup of salty Parmesan cheese to the mix, so you don’t need an entire tablespoon of salt her recipe suggests.
Out of the 57 recipes I’ve now made from her book, Cooking for Jeffrey, this recipe will be on the list of my top 10 favorites. Happy to report that our dinner guests, Cord and Kathy, gave this fresh take on Ratatouille a big thumbs up. Bon Appetit!
My version gets finished in a large skillet with fresh shrimp.
Roasted Ratatouille with Shrimp
Ingredients
- 2 medium size zucchini, 8 inch long 1.5 inch dice
- 1 large eggplant 1.5 inch dice
- 1 large red bell pepper 1.5 inch dice
- 1 large yellow bell pepper 1.5 inch dice
- 1 large purple onion 1.5 inch dice
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1.5 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes, whole
- 1/4 cup fresh basil julienned
- 1 pound shrimp 30 - 35 count
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. If you have a convection oven use the convection roast option.
- In a large bowl, place all diced veggies (zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers, onion).
- Add garlic, oregano, olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss to coat evenly.
- Pour vegetables onto 2 sheet pans with lips (jelly roll pans). Do not crowd pans so that they will roast instead of steam.
- Place in hot oven. Cook for a total of 30 minutes. Check after 15 minutes and toss vegetables by shaking pans or using a spatula so that all the veggies have a chance to brown.
- Remove roasted veggies from oven. Let cool. At this point you can refrigerate until you're ready to finish the dish. Or you can proceed with the next steps and complete the dish right away.
- Heat a large, deep skillet over medium high heat.
- Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to hot pan.
- Add 2 cups of cherry tomatoes and saute until the skins just begin to crack. About 3-4 minutes.
- Add one pound of peeled and deveined shrimp.
- Saute for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the reserved roasted vegetables to skillet and toss lightly.
- Cook for another 5 minutes until vegetables are warmed through.
- Remove from heat. Add fresh basil and serve over steaming bowls of polenta.
