Ratatouille is one of my favorite summertime dishes – the richly layered stew of vegetables is a great way to take advantage of the abundant produce that’s available this time of year. It’s simple to make and incredibly versatile: toss it into pasta, serve it over soft polenta, stir into an omelet, or pile it onto a pita for an impromptu pizza.

Serving ratatouille in a crêpe is something I never would have thought of on my own – the whole concept of savory crêpes is pretty new to me – so you can thank Sara Moulton for this one.

Sara is going to be the keynote speaker at the Food and Wine Conference later this month and this week the #SundaySupper crew is sharing recipes inspired by hers. (I unfortunately can’t attend the conference and I have to admit that I’m a little jealous of my friends who will be there – Sara is one of the first chefs I remember watching on television and I love her straightforward, simple style of cooking.)

Instead of cooking the ratatouille on the stove, Sara came up with the idea of roasting the vegetables. Roasting them concentrates their flavor and makes the ratatouille extra delicious. Plus, you get to add roasted garlic to it, which doesn’t even compare at all to regular old garlic. Although it only takes a few minutes of actual work, roasting the dish does mean that this take a little longer than normal to prepare. Luckily, it’s easy to split to work over two days by making the ratatouille one night and filling the crêpes the next.

If you don’t like goat cheese, try it with feta or mozzarella!

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Ratatouille Crêpes

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 45 minutes minutes

Servings 6 servings

Author Lauren Keating

Ingredients

• 1 medium eggplant stem end cut off
• 2 medium zucchini trimmed
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 4 large plum tomatoes quartered
• 1 large red bell pepper quartered
• 1 large onion quartered
• 1 head garlic
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
• ½ cup shredded fresh basil
• 4 ounces goat cheese chrevre, crumbled
• 6 prepared crêpes 9-inch

Instructions

• Cut the eggplant into 1-inch cubes and the zucchini into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Toss with 2 teaspoons salt and place in a large colander. Set a plate on top and place the colander inside a large bowl or in the sink. Set aside at room temperature and drain for 30 minutes. Transfer to a clean kitchen towel and gently squeeze out as much moisture as possible.
• Heat the oven to 450°F. Add the eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, bell pepper, and onion in a shallow roasting pan large enough to fit all of the vegetables in one flat layer. Cut a 1/4-inch slice off the root of the head of garlic and place the garlic in the center of a large square of foil. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the oil and season with salt and pepper. Bring up the corners of the foil and crimp to seal tightly. Drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil over the vegetables and add the thyme; season with salt and pepper and place in the oven with the wrapped garlic on the oven rack next to the roasting pan. Roast, stirring often, until the onions are browned around the edges and the peppers are crinkly, about 45 minutes.
• Transfer the roasted vegetables to a large bowl and cool. Unwrap the garlic and cool. Finely chop the vegetables; stir in the basil. Pull the garlic apart and squeeze the pulp from the individual cloves onto the vegetables; stir well. Crumble in the goat cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Spoon about 1/2 cup of ratatouille into each crepe. Serve at room temperate or place on a baking sheet and crisp in a 350°F oven for 30 minutes.

It’s no secret that I love fennel, but I’ve been absolutely obsessed with the thought of making caramelized fennel ever since I first read about it over on The Tipsy Baker’s blog months ago. I requested a copy of Ad Hoc at Home from the library and patiently waited for what seemed like forever to get the recipe. And then I had no idea what to make with it. I mean, I’m not exactly a meat and potatoes kind of girl. I don’t do side dishes. And as presented in the book, caramelized fennel was most definitely a side dish. But then I had an idea: pasta. When I’m short on recipe inspiration I always turn to pasta, throwing in a combination of whatever looks good at the grocery store and whatever I have in the fridge. Caramelized fennel seemed like it would be a great jumping-off point for a summery vegetable pasta. And it was.

In addition to the fennel, I used a combination of eggplant, summer squash, red onions, and peas. I tasted the vegetables on their own and they were so delicate and fresh that it seemed like a shame to cove them up with a heavy sauce so I decided not to, and instead dressed the pasta with a little bit of ricotta and a touch of pesto (I had originally planned to use garlic and olive oil). It was perfect! I really liked the creaminess that the ricotta added — when you stir it into the hot pasta it melts and creates a light coating that reminds me a little of mac and cheese. The pesto perked the dish up without taking it over; you could tell it was there, but it certainly isn’t a “pesto” dish by any means. Really it’s just… good. Good when you first make it. Good the next day. Good hot. Good cold. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this one!

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Orichette with Caramelized Fennel and Summer Vegetables
The trick to this dish is getting the pasta and vegetables in balance — you should have roughly the same volume of vegetables as cooked pasta. You’ll also want to cut the vegetables into pieces that are roughly the same size as the individual pieces of pasta.

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• 8 oz dry orichette (or other small pasta such as mini shells)
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1 bulb fennel, chopped
• 1/4 cup red onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 summer squash, chopped
• 1/2 small eggplant (about the same size as the squash), chopped
• 1 generous pinch crushed red pepper
• 1/2 cup fresh peas
• 1/4 cup reduced fat ricotta
• 2 Tbs prepared pesto sauce
• 2 Tbs grated parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper

Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Boil the pasta according to the directions on the package. Drain.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Add fennel in one layer and cook without stirring for 5 minutes — if it starts sizzling and making lots of noise, you’re doing it right. Give it a good stir and coo another 3 minutes — it will have caramelized and turned light golden brown. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and cook for 3 minutes to allow it to begin to soften. Sir in the squash, eggplant, and crushed red pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes or until the squash is cooked through.

Bring a small pot of water to a boil and add the peas. Cook for 5 minutes, or until they turn bright green and are no longer crunchy.

Return the pasta to the large pot. Add the ricotta and pesto and stir vigorously to combine and break up the ricotta — it should form a thin coat on the pasta. Stir in the fennel and squash mixture, peas, and parmesan cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serves 4. Approx. 362 calories, 12 grams fat, 4 grams fiber, 12 grams protein

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Have leftover fennel, squash, and eggplant? The same vegetable mixture is also great in mini-frittatas! Just prepare as described above, then combine with 4 beaten eggs, 1/4 cup skim milk, 1 tsp pesto and 2 ounces grated gruyere. Spoon the mixture into a mini muffin tin and bake at 375 for 10 minutes. You’ll get 20 mini frittatas. I recently brought these to a potluck brunch with some other local food bloggers and they were fabulous! Healthy, delicious and super easy to make.

Here are a few photos from the brunch: