ratatouille two ways

This would be another wonderful Meatless Monday meal, just leave out the chicken.  I added it because my dad was coming for dinner and it isn’t dinner if meat is not included for him… he is old school to the max! The chicken does benefit and stays lovely moist and juicy roasting under the vegetables this way. We’ll be using half of the ratatouille for these roulades and save the remaining half for tomorrow’s ratatouille lasagna.

I couldn’t find any really good-looking tomatoes in the grocery store, so I substituted canned diced tomatoes, always the way to go when there are no good tomatoes around.

Roasted Ratatouille Roulade

8 large red, yellow, or orange bell peppers, roasted and peeled
Pam
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
4-5 Chinese or Japanese eggplant, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 large yellow crookneck squash, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 large zucchini squash, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 large red onion, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch slices
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Herbes de Provence
4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
8 medium tomatoes, diced; or 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup fresh minced basil
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
1/4 cup prepared or homemade pesto sauce
Sautéed spinach or warm marinara sauce (optional)

Carefully slice off the top and bottom of one of the roasted and peeled bell peppers. Gently remove the core. Slice the bell cylinder you have created down just one side and open up the pepper into one long rectangular piece.  Clean out any of the seeds clinging to the pepper.  Repeat with the remaining 7 peppers.  Chop the pepper ends and both the rectangles and the chopped pieces aside.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and line a large baking sheet with foil and spray the foil with Pam.

Place one chicken breast half between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound with a meat pounder or the bottom of a heavy pot or skillet until even thickness throughout. Repeat with the second breast and place both pieces of chicken on the baking sheet.

Surround the chicken with eggplant, yellow squash, and zucchini slices.  Spray with Pam, then season generously with salt, pepper, and herbes de Provence. Place the remaining vegetable slices, including the onion slices and the reserved chopped bell pepper pieces in a second layer, this time, covering the chicken.  Spray this layer with Pam and season again.

Roast in preheated until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are just tender, about 12 minutes. Using tongs, remove the chicken and place on a cutting board until cool enough to handle.  Toss the vegetables and return to the oven for another 15 minutes.  Dice the chicken and place in a large bowl and set aside.

Remove vegetables from the oven and add the garlic, tomatoes, and mushrooms, return to the oven for a final 15 minutes.

Reduce oven to 350 degrees and remove baking sheet from oven. Transfer half of the ratatouille to a large cutting board.  Allow the remaining half to cool before placing in a container and refrigerating (it will be used for the ratatouille lasagna tomorrow). Dice the ratatouille on the cutting board and add to the bowl with the chicken, stir in the basil and toss until well combined.

Spoon a layer of chicken ratatouille onto each roasted red pepper rectangle and roll-up. Place in an 8×8-inch Pyrex dish or into two Pyrex loaf pans.

Sprinkle half of the Parmesan down the center of the roulades. Drizzle the pesto over the cheese, then sprinkle the remaining Parmesan over the pesto. Bake in 350-degree oven for 15 minutes.  Serve as is or atop sautéed spinach or heated marinara sauce, if desired.

Serves 8