Recipe: One-Pot Chicken Ratatouille

Ratatouille. And no, I’m not talking about that cute little rat in the Disney movie. Granted, it is one of my favorite animated Disney movies.

No. Today I’m talking about the dish. But then maybe I’m talking about the movie a bit, too. Hmm…

The truth is, the beautiful layered dish of thinly sliced veggies in the movie isn’t exactly ratatouille – at least not in the traditional sense. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

A few weeks back, out of the blue, Jack asked if we could make ratatouille like from the movie. Now, he doesn’t often request specific dishes, much less ask to cook something together, so I jumped at the chance to get in the kitchen with my nearly 14-year-old.

We found a online and set out to recreate the iconic dish one Sunday afternoon. It was a labor of love, for sure. A mandoline helped with all the slicing, but it was still a pretty meticulous process. It also tasted amazing.

But being the son of a Frenchman – my dad’s mother was French – I knew that this beautifully layered masterpiece (if I do say so myself) wasn’t traditional ratatouille.

My understanding is that ratatouille was a humble peasant dish made with coarsely chopped stewed vegetables. So I set out to do a little research.

The dish in the movie seems to be based on a variation of ratatouille called confit byaldi. Wikipedia tells me that this dish was created in the 1970s by French chef Michel Guérard and it became pretty popular thereafter.

Another source references the dish in the movie as tian.

I’m not sure which is correct – perhaps they both are – but I am sure of this: Both of them take a lot more work than this version I’m sharing with y’all today.

Is this traditional ratatouille? Maybe not in its truest form. But it sure is delicious.

I start by sweating onions and peppers in olive oil, add in some garlic, then eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash. Some chicken broth and canned tomatoes are next, along with some dried basil and salt and pepper.

Once the vegetables are tender, I add in some shredded rotisserie chicken to turn this hearty stew into a main course the entire family loves.

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Any kind of cooked, shredded chicken should work. I just love the convenience of rotisserie chicken, but you could certainly roast or poach some chicken and use that.

You could also buy some of that shredded cooked chicken you can find in the deli section of the grocery store more often now.

With this dish, it’s really about cooking the vegetables enough so they’re tender to your liking. Some folks are going to want them pretty soft. Others are going to want the vegetables to have a little bite to them.

There’s no right or wrong way to cook it. It’s just a matter of preference.

One-Pot Chicken Ratatouille

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 25 minutes

Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium green bell pepper, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small eggplant, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 zucchini, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 yellow squash, cut into 1-inch chunks
• ¾ cup chicken broth
• 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 3 cups shredded cooked chicken (I used rotisserie chicken)
• ½ teaspoon dried basil
• Salt
• Pepper

Instructions

• Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
• Add the onion and pepper and cook until the onions are translucent – about 3 to 5 minutes.
• Add the garlic and cook until fragrant – about 1 minute.
• Add the eggplant, zucchini and squash. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes.
• Add the chicken broth, cover and simmer for about 5 minutes.
• Add the undrained tomatoes, shredded chicken and basil. Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook until vegetables are tender to your liking.
• Serve warm over rice, pasta or by itself.

This recipe originally appeared on SouthernBite.com. For more great recipes, visit the website or check out ”The Southern Bite Cookbook.”