Vegetarian Meals-Lunch or dinner

Crustless Ratatouille Pie

It’s Sunday, and I have veggies in dire need of being used in one recipe or another–quickly. If they don’t get used today, the chances of me having enough motivation to whip something up during the week is very slim.  It’s gotta be today.

Hubby grilled up some eggplants from the garden this morning, and since I hadn’t made my signature eggplant dish yet, today looked like a good day to do that. I’ve been making this dish  for many years(the date on the Prevention page is 1999)with whatever type of eggplant we decided to grow that year. The dish comes together fairly quickly, and I get to use up a pound of eggplant and a couple of tomatoes.  And the fact that it’s tasty and only 172 calories/serving may be a few more reasons why I throw this dish together more than once every summer.  I had to make a few adjustments today since I did not have ricotta cheese or the type of yogurt it calls for.  This is an old recipe so the Greek yogurt consistency is probably not what the recipe intended. I used a cup of my homemade, Greek yogurt with a half of cup of raw milk buttermilk. I know, I know, but I am trying to use ingredients I have on hand.

You need an onion, a red or yellow bell pepper, two tomatoes and two cloves of garlic.  If you are using fresh eggplant, cut in chunks, salt and drain the water from the eggplant for 30-45 minutes. I grilled the eggplant until the meat collapsed and that took enough of the moisture out without the salt. I have a little jar of Penzeys Tuscan Sunset(salt-free), and I used that in place of the marjoram.

Two teaspoon olive oil, saute the onion for three minutes and then add the pepper and the garlic.

Because my eggplant was grilled, I added the eggplant later with the tomatoes and seasoning.

Throw a cup of ricotta cheese, yogurt, 3 egg whites, 1/4 cup of flour(replace this with a non-gluten product if you prefer gluten free),1/2 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese. Spray a pie plate lightly with no-stick spray and throw half of the cooled,sauteed vegetables onto the plate followed by half of the ricotta cheese mixture; add the rest of the veggies and the ricotta cheese mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until the middle is done.

What’s for lunch? Ratatouille Pie!  Will you join me?
Ratatouille Pie
Prevention, August 1999

Serve this crustless quiche warm or at room temperature

Ingredients
-2 tsp olive oil
-1 large onion, finely chopped
-1 medium eggplant(1 lb). Cut into one inch cubes, salted, and drained.
-1 sweet yellow or red pepper, coarsely chopped
-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 
-1/4 teaspoon Pepper
-3/4 teaspoon salt
-2 medium tomatoes
-1/2 teaspoon marjoram or oregano
-1 cup reduced-fat ricotta cheese
-1/2 cup low-fat plain yogurt
-3 egg whites
-1/4 cup all purpose flour
-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
-1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a 10-inch pie plate with cooking spray
2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onions; saute 3 minutes. Add eggplant, yellow or red pepper, garlic, pepper and salt. Cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes or until eggplant is softened. Stir in tomatoes and marjoram and cook for 2 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes. 
3. In a blender,  process ricotta, yogurt, egg whites, flour, baking powder, Parmesan cheese and remaining 1/4 teaspoon of salt until smooth.
4. Spoon half of the vegetables into the pie plate. Poor the cheese mixture over the vegetables and top with the remaining vegetables. 
5. Bake 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let stand 15 minutes until cutting. 
Serves 6.
Here is the recipe I have been using since 1999.  It’s oiled stained, dog eared, and downright in bad shape.  This makes it a recipe worth trying.