Winter Warmers: Ratatouille

Winter Warmers: Ratatouille

Our fantastic dietician, Emma, has put together a brilliant recipe for Ratatouille for you. Warm and perfect for these cold nights and packed with vegetables. Read below to discover how many vegetables you really should be eating each day, and keep scrolling for the perfect solution for dinner, any night of the week. 

 

So the cold temperatures have hit and cooking motivation is likely to be at an all-time low. It’s time to warm up and get inspired with a delicious yet ridiculously simple Ratatouille recipe. Fact: less than 1 in 10 adults met the recommendations for daily vegetable consumption in 2017-18 (www.aihw.gov.au) We hear it often; “you need 5 serves of veggies a day” *sigh…. But what does this actually look like? To give you an idea, here is a breakdown of what a serve of veggies is:

 

1 standard serve of vegetables is:

1 cup green leafy or raw salad vegetables OR

½ cup coking veggies (broccoli, spinach, carrots, pumpkin…) OR

½ cup sweet corn OR

1 medium tomato OR

½ cup cooked dried or canned beans, peas or lentils OR

½ medium potato or other starchy veg (sweet potato, taro, cassava)

 

The way to ensure you get 5 serves of veggies a day is to include them at each main meal. This means, including them at breakfast, lunch and dinner, or a snack when you can. Ratatouille is not only a great way to include extra veggies in your diet, but also a good way to use up veggies in the crisper that are looking a little worse for wear. This is a kind of recipe where substitutions are encouraged! If you don’t have eggplant, chuck in some carrot –the more the merrier! Not only will cooking this help you use up what’s in your fridge, it is also a great way to increase your daily intake of dietary fibre, folate, vitamin A and vitamin C.

 

Ingredients

3 x zucchinis, halved lengthways, cut into 2cm pieces

2 x eggplants, cut into 2cm pieces

2 x red capsicum’s, deseeded and cut into 2cm pieces

1-2 tins chopped tomatoes

1 cup passata

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced/crushed

1-2 small brown onions

Optional: 2-4 sprigs fresh thyme and/ or 1-2 tbsp dried oregano

 

Method

1. 1. 1. Heat the oil in a casserole dish over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until the onion is soft.
   2. 2. Add the eggplant, capsicum, thyme and oregano. Stir until well combined
   3. 3. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook for 5-10 minutes. Add the zucchini, tomatoes & passata. Cook, covered, for 20-25 minutes or until the mixture thickens
   4. 4. Serve with either rice (opt for brown rice or basmati rice), pasta (check out the pulse pastas in the supermarket), cous cous or some crusty bread. Enjoy!