Grilled Ratatouille

 Are you ever surprised by a dish?  We thought this grilled ratatouille (which we served with Alex's Roast Chicken Breasts) would be good since we had wonderful produce, but neither of us expected to like it quite as much as we did because it was so very simple.  I don't know what the French traditionally serve with ratatouille, but this worked so brilliantly with the roast chicken breasts that I am not sure I would serve it with anything else.  It was easy to make and very tasty.  We have a ton of leftovers, but I am excited to try the ratatouille ladled over a bed of pasta or couscous or as a topping for some good crusty bread.  I wonder what else I should do with my leftover ratatouille?  Before summer wraps up I plan on making this at least once more.  This ratatouille might become my new go-to side dish for our roast chicken breasts.  The go-to side dish used to be a simple arugula salad, but so long as the fresh basil, tomatoes and zucchini remain available at the farmers' market, I am going to make ratatouille!

Recipe after the jump!




Grilled Ratatouille

INGREDIENTS:
2 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise, and then halved lengthwise again so you have spears
2 small Japanese eggplant, halved lengthwise
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips
1 yellow onion, peeled, cut into 6-8 wedges (leaving root end intact)
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tbsp evoo
1/3 cup basil, julienned
2 1/2 tsp red wine vinegar

Preheat grillpan over medium-high heat (or if you are lucky enough to have a grill, heat that up to medium-high).  Combine zucchini, eggplant, pepper, onion and cherry tomatoes in a large mixing bowl.  Drizzle evoo over the vegetables and season generously with s&p.  Toss to coat.  Grill vegetables until tender and slightly charred on all sides, about 4 minutes for peppers and 5-6 minutes for remaining vegetables. Don't crowd the grillpan - if you are like us you will have to do this in batches.  Transfer to cutting board and set aside to cool. 

After vegetables are cool enough to handle, coarsely chop and return to mixing bowl.  Add basil and vinegar and toss to coat. Season with s&p and more vinegar (if necessary).

Serve warm with roast chicken.