This tasty oil-free Ratatouille~Mediterranean Vegetable Casserole will be a beautiful addition to your holiday table and easy enough for a weeknight meal.
It looks like it took a lot of time, but it really was quick to put this together. You can make it with a variety of veggies, but it traditionally has eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini, and onions.
My mom’s original recipe for this dish included lots of oil and a process of sweating the veggies. She cooked it in a skillet on the stovetop and there was a lot of transferring of the various veggies to paper towels, etc. I wanted to eliminate the oil and make the process simpler and I was able to do that and retain the delicious flavors of the original recipe.
Gather your ingredients and let’s get started. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
You can use fresh basil or if you want to kick it up a notch, use my Vegan Oil-Free Nut-Free Pesto sauce. Get that recipe here.
Add the tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce to the bottom of your casserole dish. Add the seasonings.
Mix the seasonings, including the minced garlic into the sauce.
Slice the veggies into 1/4″ or slightly larger slices.
Begin by alternating the veggies, standing them on their edges. Work your way around the casserole dish. This doesn’t need to be a perfect order type of thing. You can put them in any order. If using fresh basil, you can chop it finely and sprinkle it on top or you can put a leaf between the veggie layers as you go around. When you’ve gone all the way around, just fill in the middle any way you like.
If using pesto, you can put that on top after you are done as I’ve done here, or you can dab a bit in between the veggie layers.
That’s all there is to it! Bake uncovered for an hour. If you are in a bit of a hurry you can speed up the cooking by covering the dish for the first 30 minutes and uncovering for about 15 more minutes. The veggies should be soft.
Scoop out a portion and serve over pasta with additional pesto if desired.
- 1 cup tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce
- 1-3 tsp minced garlic (I always use 3 big cloves)
- 1 cup basil leaves or pesto sauce (Link to pesto sauce in Notes)
- 1/2 tsp ground rosemary (You can also use about 1 1/2 tsp of Herbs de Provence in place of all the individual spices)
- 1/2 tsp ground thyme
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1/4-1 tsp salt (optional)
- 1/4-1/2 tsp ground black pepper (optional)
- 1 1/2 cups sliced red or white onion (Cut large slices in half so that they are about the same size as your zucchini slices)
- 1 1/2 cups sliced eggplant (Cut large slices in half so that they are about the same size as your zucchini slices)
- 1 1/2 cups sliced zucchini
- 1 1/2 cups sliced tomatoes
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Add the tomato sauce (or spaghetti sauce) to the bottom of the casserole dish. (I use a dish that is about 11" oval)
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Add the minced garlic and all the spices. Mix it in and spread the sauce to cover the bottom of the dish.
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Start stacking the veggies and standing them on their edges leaning against the edge of the dish. Work your way around until you have a complete circle. Fill in the middle with stacks in any way you want until the dish is filled. If using fresh basil leaves, include them in the alternating stacks of veggies.
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If using pesto, you can either dab it between some of the slices of veggies or spread it over the top of the filled casserole dish. It's good both ways, but a bit more work to add it in between the veggies.
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Bake at 350 degrees, uncovered, for about 1 hour.
For faster baking, you can cover the dish for 30 minutes and uncover and continue baking for an additional 15 minutes.
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The veggies should be soft and the onion transparent.
Scoop out a portion and serve it over pasta with additional pesto on top, if using.
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