My husband came home the other day and said one of his colleagues at work had brought him a zucchini and pulled a huge zucchini out of his backpack. Whoa. I don't really care for large fruit and vegetables as they often taste bland and zucchinis can become bitter, watery or woody. So I needed to come up with something that had a lot of flavor should this huge thing have any of the above characteristics. Since we also had tomatoes and eggplant in the fridge, I immediately thought of ratatouille.

Ratatouille is not only easy to make, it also tastes good and goes well with a lot of things. Eat it on it's own, serve with pasta or rice, as a side to meat or fish, make a bruschetta out of it, or top risotto with it. Toppings? Add a dollop of pesto or sprinkle Parmesan on it.

Ratatouille

Note: The tomatoes I had weren't the most flavorful so I added 1-2 Tbs tomato paste.

1 onion

1 garlic clove

2 Tbs olive oil

1 large zucchini

1 large eggplant

1 red bell pepper

3 tomatoes

Basil

Oregano

Herbes de Provence

Salt

Pepper

Heat the oil in a big pot and add onion and garlic. Sautée lightly. Add all vegetables and stir. Add a little bit of water to the pot and add chopped herbs. Turn down the heat and cook vegetables until soft, about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.