Fall is fast approaching, the end of the summer is nigh. The vegetable gardens will soon be empty, but, we are still in summer mode here at Allons-Eat! and ratatouille is on our minds! Maybe it is in the forefront of our minds because it is Disney World’s Food & Wine Festival season (sadly, we will miss it this year). Ratatouille is both an adorable and remarkable Pixar film, festival mascot AND a delicious dish. So, we decided to delve into a recipe that suits this theme. Ratatouille is a rich vegetable stew that consists of many superstars of summer produce: tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, and yellow squash.
For those of you that are lucky enough to have an overflowing vegetable garden at home, Ratatouille is a great way to use up some of your bounty. The only issue with the classic Ratatouille dish is that it can be quite the labor of love. It requires near-constant stirring and nurturing over the stove. This type of dedication really detracts from the lazy, late-summer vibe we are feeling right now.
Luckily, NY Times Cooking featured a solution to all the hard work of the original recipe with their Sheet Pan Ratatouille. The recipe calls for ingredients to roast in the oven, caramelizing the vegetables with a fraction of the effort. After chopping the vegetables, you are basically done – the oven does the rest! You can just chill out for an hour sipping frozen cocktails instead of spending that time over a hot stove.
There were only a few adjustments made to the NY Times recipe. First, the sheet pans were preheated (a technique Kyle first learned while making Sheet Pan Broccoli Gratin), this gives the veggies a jump start on the caramelization process as soon as they hit the pan. Second, the Times recipe instructs you to prepare the onions and zucchini on one pan while mixing the eggplant and peppers on a separate pan. This seemed a bit silly since the whole point of this was to streamline the process. So, Kyle mixed everything together and then divided the vegetables between two pans. And third, only half of the amount of olive oil suggested was used. Even though only 1/4 cup of oil was used for all of those vegetables, it still produced a rich and wonderfully browned ratatouille.
In order to transform the Sheet Pan Ratatouille into an actual meal, Kyle borrowed another French technique, preparing halibut en papillote alongside the vegetables. En papillote is a technique that sounds all French and fancy, but it literally translates to “in paper”. This cooking method is quite simple: to cook the fish en papillote, place the fillet in a folded pouch of parchment paper. Then you add some flavorings (in Kyle’s case he used lemon slices and thyme sprigs) and then it is baked – voila!
This process steams the fish as it bakes. It produces a flavorful and tender piece of fish – every time! For this recipe halibut was used, but any firm fish, such as salmon, cod or trout would work great too. All you need to do is adjust the baking time by a few minutes for thicker or thinner pieces of fish.
For this recipe, the halibut packets were placed on top of the vegetables for the final 15 (ish) minutes. You can check after about 12 minutes, just to be safe. Once finished, you will have a simple, yet satisfying dinner all in one pan!
In the photos you will see two pieces of halibut, this meal was created for two. However, four pieces would easily fit on the sheet pan without affecting the roasting time. If you are cooking for two, no need to halve the amount of vegetables used. This will allow you to have plenty of delicious roasted veggie leftovers for another meal or two.
If you serve this with a baguette, a green salad and a chilled glass of Rosé (not required, but, why not?) your dinner will be a big hit! You will have created a relatively hands-off meal that feels fancy, even though it was so easy to prepare!
Sheet Pan Ratatouille adapted from NY Times Cooking.
- 1 large red onion, halved and thinly sliced
- 1 ¾ pounds zucchini and yellow squash (about 3 to 4 medium squash), cut into ¼-inch slices (about 7 cups)
- 1 ½ pounds eggplant (about 1 large or 4 small), quartered and cut into 1-inch thick slices(about 10 cups)
- 2 medium red bell peppers, sliced into ½-inch slices (about 3 cups)
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- ¼ cup plus extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1 to 2 tablespoons
- 1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt
- Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
- Dash of crushed red pepper flakes
- 6 - 8 thyme sprigs
- 6 - 8 rosemary sprigs
- 3 cups cherry tomatoes ( about 12 ounces by weight)
- 4 halibut fillets, about 6 ounces each
- 1 lemon, cut into ¼-inch thick slices
- 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
- Heat oven to 425 degrees, and arrange two racks in the top and bottom thirds. Place a sheet pan on each rack to heat up with the oven.
- In a large bowl, combine the onion, zucchini/yellow squash, eggplant, red peppers, garlic, ¼ cup olive oil, salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes.
- Carefully remove the sheet pans from the oven, and spread the vegetable mixture evenly between the two pans. Scatter pans with most of the thyme and rosemary sprigs (reserve a few sprigs for the halibut).
- Place one tray on the top rack, and a second on the bottom rack of the oven. Roast both pans for 30 minutes, stirring vegetables two or three times, and rotating the pans halfway between cooking.
- After 30 minutes, add the cherry tomatoes to the pans and roast for 15 more minutes.
- While the vegetables roast, prepare the halibut: Tear off 4 squares of parchment that are at about 12 inches on each side. Place one piece of halibut on each square of parchment. Lightly sprinkle the fish with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. Lay 2 slices of lemon and a sprig or 2 of the reserved thyme and rosemary on top of each portion.
- To fold the parchment packets, lift the right and left sides of the paper up and towards the center, directly above the fish. Touch the two sides together and tightly roll them, folding as you go, until you reach the fish. Now, roll and crimp the top and bottom ends, rolling them towards the center of the fish. Tuck the end underneath the fish.
- Once the vegetables have roasted for a total of 45 minutes, consolidate them onto one sheet pan. Add the halibut packets to the baking sheets and roast for another 12 to 15 minutes, until the fish is cooked throughout.
- Drizzle the vegetables with the white wine vinegar, then transfer to a serving platter, discarding the rosemary and thyme. Serve with the halibut (For an extra dramatic effect, serve it still in its parchment packet).
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