Baked Eggs with Ratatouille

I've never before made ratatouille because eggplants intimidate me. The few dishes I've eaten with eggplants I didn't much enjoy the chewy skin or flavor. This weekend I decided to give these healthy veggies another try.

What I like about this recipe is the health (kudos to low calorie dishes packed with veggies!), the skinned egg plants (no chewy skin), and the yummy broiled egg on top. The egg is what convinced my picky 3 year old to eat her dinner...as did the banana split dessert. 

I didn't add the banana pepper because I wanted to keep the heat low for my children's sake. Instead I added a shake or two of red pepper flakes. I also didn't have cocettes so I used ramekins and topped each with only one egg.

Baked Eggs with Ratatouille

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, cut into ½-inch dice
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into ½-inch dice
1 banana pepper, seeded and cut into ½-inch dice
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
3 tomatoes, seeded and cut into ½-inch dice
2 small zucchini, cut into ½-inch dice
1 medium eggplant, peeled and cut into ½-inch dice
8 eggs
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
¼ cup julienned fresh basil
- fine sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Special Equipment: 4 6-inch cocottes

Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion, red pepper, banana pepper and garlic to the pan and sauté until tender, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the tomato paste and continue cooking for 3 to 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and cook until tender, about 10 minutes, adding water as necessary. Season to taste with salt and pepper. This can be done up to 2 days ahead and kept refrigerated.

Preheat oven to broil.

If the ratatouille was done ahead and kept cold, gently re-warm over medium heat. Spoon about 1/2 cup of the ratatouille into a cocette, crack 2 eggs on top of the ratatouille and place the cocettes in the broiler and cook until the egg whites are just barely set, about 5 minutes; serve hot with Parmesan and basil on top. 

Who Dished it first? Eric Ripert