February 28, 2016

Making Ratatouille with Lentils

I love eating eggplant. It’s gotten me in trouble before. But that’s a whole other story. Whenever I go to the grocery store I check to see if any of the eggplant look edible. Lately it’s been very sad. The eggplant looks like it was in a boxing ring and lost. Bruised and battered eggplant is not edible. Last week I was very surprised to see happy looking eggplant at the store. Of course I had to buy it. This meant I needed to come up with a recipe.

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Earlier in the week I was making a recipe that required brown lentils. Unfortunately all I had were red lentils. So I used them instead. Now I had lots of leftover red lentils. (You might see where this is going…)

I’ll warn you now this recipe makes a lot. Lucky for me I was going to a vegan potluck so I took most of it with me. The bowl was empty by the time I got through the long line to get food. Glad I saved some for myself at home!

I found a great broth mix at My Plant Based Family.

 

Making Ratatouille with Lentils
Recipe Type: Entree
Cuisine: Italian
Author: Ilene
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 10 servings
Ratatouille with Lentils
Ingredients
  • 2 Eggplant, peeled and chopped in 1/2″ cubes
  • 2 Zucchini , chopped in 1/2″ cubes
  • 1 Medium Onion, chopped
  • 12 oz Mushrooms
  • 2-4 cloves Garlic
  • 1 cup cooked Lentils (red are best)
  • 1 15oz can diced tomatoes
  • 1 6oz can tomato paste
  • 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp broth mix
  • Bay leaves
  • Salt, pepper, basil, oregano (or other spices) to taste
Instructions
  1. Use 1 tsp broth mix to make 1/2 cup of broth.
  2. Cook lentils according to package.
  3. Heat oven to 400 degrees
  4. Clean and chop eggplant and zucchini. Leave mushrooms whole.
  5. Chop onion and put aside. (It doesn’t go in the oven.)
  6. In a large bowl mix eggplant, zucchini and mushrooms with broth.
  7. Place on cookie sheets. (You can use parchment paper to keep them from sticking.)
  8. Sprinkle spices on eggplant, zucchini and mushrooms.
  9. Bake veggies 20 to 30 minutes. Watch carefully so they don’t overcook. The mushrooms will probably be done first.
  10. Chop mushrooms after they cool a bit.
  11. You can do the next part on the stove or in your Instant Pot. I used my Instant Pot.
  12. Saute onions until translucent, then add garlic and cook for one more minute.
  13. Add roasted veggies, lentils and red wine vinegar to the pot. Mix well.
  14. Add 1 cup of water if using Instant Pot.
  15. On top of the vegetables, place the tomatoes, tomato paste and bay leaves. Do not mix.
  16. Set Instant Pot to 3 minutes using Manual with natural pressure release.
Author:
Filed Under: Food, Gluten-free, Nut-free