The Meat Lover’s Ratatouille
I’ve always been a HUGE fan of ratatouille, and I do mean HUGE!
There’s just something about this trio made of zucchini, tomato and aubergine that I simply adore.
However, I always found that it lacked a little bit of… how could I put it without being disrespectful to this glorious dish?
Substance, I guess.
You know, that keep-me-fuller-longer extra something.
For that reason, I always made all sorts of additions to this great classic combo…
I’ve successfully added Feta Cheese and Kalamata Olives, turning it into some sort of a warm Greek salad. Yummy!
I’ve also tried adding chickpeas and serving it over a bed of quinoa. That too, was pretty spectacular!
I even managed to put it right on top of a pizza. Talk about glorious AND delicious.
But it never dawned on me before now that I could plain and simply add a generous portion of good, lean MEAT!
I guess that in my mind, Ratatouille was a vegetarian dish and had to remain that way. Almost as if it had been sacred.
Well, not anymore, let me tell you.
Now that I’ve tasted this, I can guarantee you that meat will regularly get added to this girl’s ratatouille.
For THIS might very well be my favorite addition so far.
Something definitely has to be said for the great contrasts that this dish has to offer: the tender, hearty and slow simmering beef combined with the crisp, barely cooked and super refreshing vegetables.
Your mouth will adore!
And I bet it will totally agree with the flavor combination, too!
This might very well be my new favorite way of enjoying ratatouille, even though it makes me feel like I’m committing some kind of a sacrilege with this latest addition…
Truth is I’m also planning on testing chicken, and probably even lamb!
Oh, lamb has got to be THE BOMB in this dish. I can already imagine what it’ll taste like. It’ll be grand, GRAND I tell you!
But it feels so wrong, still!
Oh well… I guess I’ll just have to name it differently!
‘Cuz this is so happening! 😉
The Meat Lover’s Ratatouille
Ingredients
- 425 g beef from top round, cut into bite size chunks
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- ¼ tsp Himalayan or fine sea salt
- ¾ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 tbsp ground mustard seeds, or dry mustard
- 2 tbsp dried fine herbs
- 1 + 1 cup water
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 large ripe tomato
- 2 zucchinis, cut into large chunks
- 2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half
- 100 g mushrooms, sliced
- 1 medium eggplant, cut into 10-12 thick slices
- 1/8 tsp Himalayan or fine sea salt
- ¾ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
- Loads of fresh basil, finely chopped
Instructions
- Heat a little bit of coconut or olive oil in a large saucepan over high heat; when pan is sizzling hot, add and sear the pieces of meat until they are nice and golden on all sides.
- Add onions, garlic, salt and pepper; lower heat to medium and continue cooking until the onions are softened.
- Add ground mustard seeds (or dry mustard), dried herbs, white wine vinegar,1 cup of water and chopped tomato. Stir until well combined.
- Cover loosely, lower heat and simmer, stirring from time to time, until the liquid is almost completely evaporated; add another cup of water and repeat the process until you’re left with very tender pieces of beef and close to no liquid at the bottom of the saucepan. Turn off the heat and reserve.
- Preheat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and add the aubergine slices in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook until tender, flipping once, about 2 minutes per side. You might have to cook them in 2 or 3 batches, depending on the size of your skillet. Remove aubergine slices from pan and keep warm while you continue working on the rest of the vegetables.
- Put skillet back over the heat source and add zucchinis and mushrooms; cook for a one or two minutes, just to soften them up a little bit.
- Add reserved meat mixture, tomatoes and fresh basil and stir delicately until all is well combined.
- Divide the aubergine slices between 2 serving plates and arrange them in a circular fashion.
- Top with meat mixture, garnish with a few additional basil leaves and serve immediately.
If you’ve tried this recipe, please take a minute to rate the recipe and let me know how things went for you in the comments below. It’s always such a pleasure to hear from you!
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In the pan and ready to serve
Does that look good or what?
Super filling and satisfying? You bet!
19 Comments on “The Meat Lover’s Ratatouille”
Wow this is absolutely delicious looking! What a great meal, two things I ADORE 🙂
this looks amazing! never tried beef in ratatouille before, but sure will now! in the summer, when all those yummy veggies are in the farmer’s market here, we grill chicken sausage and add it. you can get a pesto/chicken, or a sun-drie tomato/chicken sausage. then, we use sun-dried tomato-parmesan-garlic infused olive oil to cook the veggies – or grill them with the sausge. that is one mean ratatouille!
That does indeed sound like a mean ratatouille, Marla! I love the idea of adding chicken sausage to it. Now you just inspired me to make my own! Thanks for that! 🙂
It got me drooling! But, I was skeptical about the Nutirtion Facts mention NO Cholesterol!? There is none beef that doesn’t have cholesterol. I research and can’t find. Am I wrong?
You are absolutely right, James, I don’t know how it came to be that the cholesterol vanished in my nutritional facts. I redid the label and it does show the right information this time. Thanks for pointing that out, I hadn’t noticed.
For the record, this is the site that I use as reference to calculate nutritional value of the beef cuts that I use. Thought it might be of interest to you! 🙂
Thank you! I always enjoy reading your healthy blogs with beautiful pictures that make me drooling as if a river pours out my mouth!
Aw, thanks so much James, that is so incredibly nice of you to say! You totally rock! 🙂
Hi Sonia!
It’s been so long since I have commented, but life is like that.
This sounds so good, I especially like the feta and black olives, and the lamb.
Will be trying these.
Now a question.
I love the zucchini and eggplant cooked but firm.
Any suggestions on cooking time.
Have a Joyful Day :~D
Charlie
Hey Charlie, I’m the exact same, I like my veggies to be on the firm side, so the cooking times that I suggested in the recipe will give you just that… veggies that are tender but that still have that little bit of a bite to them.
You have an awesome day as well, and if you try the lamb before I do, let me know how it was! 🙂
This is a yummy dish! My kids even loved it! Very heathy too!
Glad to hear, Danika! Thanks for letting me know, that’s simply awesome! 🙂
This looks really good! Any suggestions for the “2 T fine dried herbs”? Are we talking Italian Seasoning type herbs or a specific mixture? I have wayyy too many little bottles of herbs so I’m not sure what everyone else has been using. Maybe I’ll just put more basil 🙂
Don’t worry too much about this, Elizabeth! Italian herbs would be fine, or basil, or thyme, or oregano… or even terragon, why not? Whatever dried fine herbs you can get your hands on would do just fine! 🙂
Really, really, really good! Totally 5 stars!
YAY! So happy to hear! Thanks, Carmina!
Just what I’ve been looking for!
But I have to ask…what do I do with the 1 large tomato? I have my halved grape tomatoes, but it doesn’t say how to prepare the whole tomato. Please advise?
Thank you. I can’t wait to try it!
Anne
I have to admit that it’s not all that clear, Anne… I’ll have to revise my instructions! The large tomato gets added in step 3, while the cherry tomatoes have to wait until step 7 until their presence is required.
Hope this helps, and hope you like the dish! 🙂
I find that Ratatouille utterly divine… Have you ever thought of using a medley of Dried beef sausage, Lamb, pork Kilbasa Sausage, Chicken, and perhaps a few mussels with oysters and clams?? You would have to experiment a little to “Balance Out” the flavors so that no ONE Flavor overpowers the others, but instead compliment one another.
You are absolutely right about lamb. There is an Armenian dish called guvash (sp). The same veggies are put in a roasting pan, then topped with lamb chops or lamb steak and baked long and low. I’ve made it for 60 years after getting the recipe from a former brother-in-law of Armenian extraction. Delicious! One change I made is: add the lamb near the end so lamb is not overcooked.