Roasted Ratatouille Stacks With Parmesan Crust (No Eggplant)

The herbs and succulent vegetables of Provence, made famous in ratatouille, come alive in a new way. Sliced vegetables are stacked, drizzled with herb oil, and topped with a parmesan crust before they are roasted hot and fast, Ooh la la!

During the summer when gardens are full of fresh vegetables and herbs, ratatouille comes to mind as a dish to make because all the ingredients are right in front of us. And yet, in warmer weather we are less inclined to stand over a stove to saute ratatouille ingredients. On that note, I’ve developed an inventive version of ratatouille (minus the eggplant), that is roasted quickly in a hot oven, so there is no standing over a hot stove. If made on a warm summer day, it is delicious eaten at room temperature, as a salad or side and in cooler weather, these parmesan crusted stacks of ratatouille are equally delicious hot right out of the oven.

Why this recipe works

• Inventive- unlike cubes of stewed veggies in traditional ratatouille, this recipe is made with thin slices of veggies made into individual stacks, seasoned and topped with cheesy bread crumbs. The result is bright and fresh. The vegetable stacks have a crispy topping and are pretty to look at.
• Easy and fast- unlike traditional ratatouille that is slowly sautéed in a pan stovetop, this method roasts the vegetables on a sheet pan hot and fast.
• Flavor bomb- traditional ratatouille has a tomato forward flavor but overall is pretty subtle, whereas a plethora of fresh herbs dominates here, and tomato slices are no more dominant that the other veggies. Finally, roasting the stacks of veggies hot and fast creates caramelized flavor and allows the individual vegetable flavors to prevail.
• Texture- traditional ratatouille has a squishy texture from the soft cooked vegetables, whereas these roasted ratatouille stacks maintain crunch, have some char, and some crispy crunch from the parmesan crust.

Ingredient notes

• Vegetables- zucchini, summer squash, onion, peppers and tomatoes are the stars. I am not using eggplant in this version of ratatouille, since I think it needs special attention and doesn’t really cook up similarly to the other veggies. It is of paramount importance to choose veggies that you can cut into rounds of similar diameter.
• Fresh herbs- use what you have in your garden, but in general, we are looking for the types mentioned in the above info box about Herbs de Provence.
• Parmesan crust ingredients- panko breadcrumbs are my top choice here because they are larger sized and more crunchy than other, finer ground storebought breadcrumbs. Feel free to toast a couple slices of day old bread on hand and grind into crumbs on your own if you want.

Step by step instructions

Prepare the herb oil for the stacks, by preparing the fresh herbs. The leaves of the herbs with woody stems, such as thyme, savory and marjoram, should be stripped from the stems before chopping, whereas the stems can be included in the chopping for herbs like basil and parsley that have soft stems. The soft stems are full of flavor.

Making the parmesan crust for the ratatouille stacks is easy. First lay the feta crumbles on some paper towel for a few minutes to eliminate any extra moisture (especially if it came packed in brine), then mix it with the panko crumbs and grated parmesan.

With the parmesan crust and herb oil ready to go, it’s time to cut the vegetables into thin slices, and stack them individually, as shown here:

Once all your vegetables (with similar diameters) are thinly sliced (1/4″ or less), you create approximately 12 stacks. Each stack has about 8 slices of alternating vegetable types, so each stack has all the veggies represented. Put one slice of kohlrabi on the bottom, if you want to include it.

With the 12 stacks complete and spaced out on the sheet pan, drizzle the last of the herb oil over the stacks. The final step is the spoon the parmesan crust crumbs over the tops of the stacks, neatly, so as to keep most of the crumbs on the veggies (don’t scatter them all over the pan).

Press down on each stack to help the crumbs to stick, then roast in the hot oven for about 20 minutes, until the stacks are golden. You have the option of turning the oven to broil for the last few minutes to accelerate the toasting of the crumbs and bit of char on the veggies.

Above: this pan looks great, so I used the photo, but it is a version with more oil in the pan than you will see (I cut back oil with each version to arrive at just enough for the herby and roasty flavor but without creating oily stacks)

Tips for making and serving this recipe

• Time spent picking the right sized vegetables with similar diameters is time well spent. For example, a smaller heirloom or Roma tomato that matches the diameter of your onion and zucchini is worth choosing. The stacks come out best if slices are similar. Another tip is patty pan summer squash often is slightly wider than many summer or zucchinis and may match your other veggies better.
• I used a mandolin slicer for this recipe and the slicing of all the vegetables took no more than 5 minutes. If you have a sharp knife it shouldn’t take much longer.
• Getting the oven hot before you put the pan of veggie stacks in is crucial to getting them to roast hot and fast, and for them to develop the caramelization and char, not to mention the crispy parmesan tops.
• Don’t skimp on the herbs- they add a lot of key flavor to the recipe.
• Serve hot, warm, room temp. or chilled. Of course the crumb topping is crispiest when hot or room temp, but on a hot day, this makes a great chilled salad over a bed of arugula.
• Leftovers- if you have plenty of leftovers, or even just a couple, I recommend cutting each stack into quarters and stirring them into your favorite red sauce for pasta. Delish!
• Garnish- squeeze a bit of lemon juice over the served ratatouille stacks for a little zing, and garnish with edible flowers for the final flourish that will make you smile.

Above: edible dill and borage flowers make a beautiful garnish for this recipe as does a bit of lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Related recipes

• Other sheet pan meals- Street Corn Pasta, Sticky Chicken Wings & Carrots, Sheet Pan Veggie Filo Pizza, Roasted Radish Salad.
• Other Sides- Cucumber Yogurt Salad, Spicy Marinated Beech Mushrooms, Harissa Mushroom Bacon.