Clean Out the Fridge Ratatouille

A trip to our local market usually (okay, always) leaves me lugging more bags onto the bus than I expect. A few weeks ago, I was smitten with the gorgeous zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, and peppers, not to mention the strawberries, tomatoes, radishes, peaches, and cucumbers. Sigh. What can I say, I'm a sucker for summer produce -- about the only thing I actually like about the summertime, by the way.

Now, the other inevitability that comes from farmer's market shopping, is that the week's stress and schedule gets in the way of my farm-to-table dreams. By Friday, I look into the fridge and am guilt-stricken. My once-beautiful zucchini are looking a bit sad, eggplant's got about two days to live, and those poor peppers... so wrinkly. Of course, there are about a zillion ways to remedy food waste guilt. My method: chop up a bunch of crap, put it in a pan, and call it ratatouille.


Ingredients
(serves 4)

1 zucchini, sliced into disks
1 summer squash, sliced into disks
1/2 eggplant, sliced into disks (Japanese eggplant is preferable since they are smaller, but I used standard and it was delicious.)
1 red pepper, cut into thin strips
1/2 onion, cut into thin strips or half-moons
1 garlic clove, minced
4 oz. Parmesan cheese, cut into strips using a vegetable peeler
3-4 cups store-bought or homemade tomato sauce
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
pinch red pepper flakes
pinch dried thyme
salt
pepper

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350. Pour a glass of wine. Time to brush up on those knife skills! Chop all those veggies, including the garlic, and set aside. Put half the sauce on the bottom of a small baking dish, and stir in the red pepper flakes (depends how spicy you want it). Place the eggplant discs into the sauce, pressing to the bottom of the dish. Top the eggplant with half the remaining sauce, add the red pepper and onion, then add the rest of the sauce. Add the squash and zucchini in colorful rows, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and thyme. Using a vegetable peeler, cut your Parmesan cheese into strips, and drizzle olive oil on top.

Cover with foil and bake until bubbling, about 30 minutes.

BONUS!
Leftovers? You're in luck; the sauce and vegetables only get more flavorful overnight. Prepare some pasta and serve with diced mozzarella, or use for a chunky, healthy filling in a lasagna.