Ratatouille w/ Hamburger Meat Sauce

Welcome to the first recipe of my Disney Dinner Section! I don't know about y'all, but when I was younger and first saw this movie, I thought this dish looked like an assortment of pepperonis and salamis lol. I always wanted to make it, but never attempted it until I really started getting into food. This was my third attempt and it came out absolutely amazing! Ratatouille is known as a vegetarian dish, but we love meat in this house. The sauce at the bottom always reminded me of a spaghetti sauce, so that's where the ground beef idea came from.

And of course, my family and I turned on the movie to eat along with the dish. Well...voilà! Ratatouille!

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp. olive oil

• 2 eggplants

• 6 roma tomatoes

• 2 yellow squash

• 2 zucchini

• 1 1/2 lb. ground beef

• 2 tbsp. garlic pepper

• 1 small yellow onion, diced

• salt and pepper

• 28oz can crushed tomatoes

• 2 tsp. garlic powder

• 2 tsp. onion powder

• 2 tsp. seasoned salt

• 8-10 fresh basil leaves, chopped

for herb seasoning oil

• 8-10 fresh basil leaves, chopped

• 1 tsp. minced garlic

• 2 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped

• 2 tsp. fresh thyme

• salt and pepper

• 4 tbsp. olive oil

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. Slice the eggplant, tomatoes, squash and zucchini into 1/16-inch(1mm) rounds and set aside.

3. Heat the oil in a large skillet, over medium-high heat.

4. Sauté onion, garlic and bell peppers until soft, about 8-10 minutes.

5. Add ground beef and season with garlic pepper. Cook and crumble until just cooked through, about 5-7 minutes.

6. Add crushed tomatoes, garlic powder, onion powder and seasoned salt. Stir until fully incorporated.

7. Remove from heat, add basil and stir once more. Smooth the surface of the sauce with a spatula.

8. Arrange veggies in a alternating pattern such as zucchini, tomato, eggplant, squash, on top of the sauce, standing up starting from the outer edge going in. Season the top with salt and pepper.

9. for the herb seasoning: In a small bowl, mix together all ingredient and spoon over the veggies.

10. Cover the skillet with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 20 minutes, until veggies have softened.

11. Serve hot and enjoy. Can be served as the main entree with meat or a side dish without.

Tips & Tricks

• I always have trouble finding "normal-sized" eggplants, so the slices are always WAY bigger than the other veggies. If you're like me, the way I tackle this issue, is cutting the eggplant slices into quarters.

• This dish also goes great over some steamed rice. I know! It sounds strange, but trust me and try it out!

• I've found that the best way to store the leftovers from this dish is in gallon bags in the fridge. The longer the veggies soak in the sauce, the better the flavor!! This is a GREAT leftover dish.