Ratatouille

I designed this recipe from scratch. I looked at a few Ratatouille recipes, looked at what I had in the refrigerator, and came up with this.

ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
4 quarts of chopped or sliced eggplant, zucchini, & yellow squash
3 very large or 5 small cloves garlic, minced
1/4 dried chives
1/4 dried parsley
3 small Hungarian wax peppers (I don’t like bell peppers, so I used these, but you could easily use one or two bell peppers instead.)
2 cups water
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
16 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 large tomatoes, chopped
2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 box campanelle pasta, cooked according to package directions
Shredded mozzarella

directions

1
Preheat the olive oil in an 8 quart stock pot over medium heat. When the pot is hot, add onions, zucchini, eggplant, and yellow squash. Cook until the onions become translucent, stirring frequently to prevent sticking.
2
Add garlic, chives, parsley, peppers, water and vinegar. Cook ten minutes or longer, until eggplant and squash are soft.
3
Add mushrooms and tomatoes. Cook until almost all of the liquid is absorbed.
4
Stir in Parmesan cheese and pasta. Continue to heat, just until cheese begins to melt.
5
Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over each plate just before serving.

notes

Variation - You can add a block of cream cheese and a cup or two of sour cream and stir it in until the whole thing is warm. It's a whole different meal that way.

Source: Tara Gerner-Ziegmont