Ratatouille: Naturally Low Carb Recipe

Low carbohydrate cooking on the Atkin's Diet doesn't have to be boring. Punch up your low carb meal plan with delicious gourmet dishes, like this classic French Provencal casserole - ratatouille. This vegetable casserole was a favorite of mine long before I embraced a low carb lifestyle of the Atkins' Diet and I was happy to find that it was is a naturally low carb recipe that bursts with flavor and nutritional goodness. A 1-cup serving contains approximately 7 grams of net carbs (11 grams of carbohydrate minus 4 grams of dietary fiber), 2 grams of protein, and 11 grams fat.

In French tradition, ratatouille is eaten alone, accompanied only by a baguette of crusty French bread and a glass of red wine. The bread is off-limits for low carb dieters, but keep you may enjoy the dry red wine.

Ratatouille makes a nice filling for a French omelet (eggs add 0 net carbs). And, if you have some wiggle room in your day's intake of carbohydrate, this dish can also be served over low carbohydrate pasta. Just be sure to add the net carbs from the pasta to the 7 grams net carbs of the ratatouille in your meal calculations.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Baking time: 40-45 minutes

Recipe Yields: Six 1-cup servings

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ lbs. eggplant (long, slender Japanese eggplant makes a beautiful dish)
• 1 medium green zucchini
• 1 medium yellow zucchini or summer squash
• 1 small red pepper
• 1 small yellow pepper
• 1 small tomato
• 1 small onion
• 2 tbsp. minced garlic
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 1 tbsp. fresh parsley finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp rosemary (optional)
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. grated romano or parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Cut eggplant in 1/4 inch round slices. Place cut slices in a colander and toss with 1 tsp. salt to prevent discoloration and to extract some of the bitter juices from the eggplant. Cut the zucchini, red and yellow peppers, onion, and tomato in 1/4 inch slices and set aside in individual piles. Rinse the eggplant and drain well.

Lightly oil a 10"x15" white French casserole baking dish. Arrange the sliced vegetables around the sides of the dish and in the center in an overlapping and alternating fashion (see photo).

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together: olive oil, minced garlic, salt, pepper, parsley, thyme and rosemary (optional). Drizzle this mixture evenly over the vegetables in the baking dish.

Cover the casserole dish with tinfoil and place it in your preheated hot oven (425 degrees) for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake an additional 10-15 minutes until vegetables just begin to brown.

Remove dish to a rack and allow to stand for 10 minutes. Just before serving, sprinkle lightly with grated romano or parmesan cheese.

Notes:

Ratatouille is served both hot and at room temperature in traditional French cuisine. Many gourmet cooks prefer to refrigerate the dish overnight to allow the flavors to mature and, then, allow the dish to warm to room temperature before serving or reheating the dish in a hot oven for 5-10 minutes.

I also enjoy leftover ratatouille spread on the top of a large Rye Crisp cracker as a low carb diet snack. This dish stores well, up to one week, in the refrigerator.