Ratatouille Tower

Today's recipe is incredibly light and delicious. Made of pure vegetables, this dish will bring the joy even to vegans, however being nutritious at the same time it will satisfy all the food lovers out there. Cook as an appetiser, side option or a separate meal; you are guaranteed to enjoy it anyway. 

Ingredients:

• Eggplant 

• 4 medium tomatoes

• 1 large zucchini or 2-3 small ones

• Olive oil

• 1 teaspoon of dried thyme, or fresh if you have it

• Fresh basil

• Salt, to taste

• Pepper, to taste

Instructions:

1. Thinly slice your eggplant, tomatoes, and zucchini into slices that are approximately between a quarter to half an inch wide.

2. Oil a baking pan or casserole dish, and sprinkle with a little salt, pepper, and thyme. Just a little is fine – as you’ll be doing this between some of the layers, and don’t want to overdo it or your ratatouille will be too salty.

3. The way you wish to serve this dish will dictate how you stack the vegetables in your pan. If you want to serve it more like a casserole, then stack your slices of eggplant, tomato, and zucchini where each slice overlaps the ones previous both vertically and horizontally (like the scales of a fish), covering the bottom of your pan evenly. If you wish to serve the ratatouille as individual stacks (like in the photo above), tile your first pieces of vegetable so the edges are touching, but not overlapping. (You’ll be building towers of alternating of eggplant, tomato.)

4. After each layer of eggplant, drizzle a little oil on top. After each tomato slice, sprinkle a little salt and pepper and thyme.

5. Bake your casserole or ratatouille towers for about 40 minutes at 250ºF or until you can see the edges curling a little and browning.

6. When your ratatouille is done, drizzle a little more oil on it and garnish with a basil leaf.