Summer Garden Ratatouille

We have been going a little crazy with nightshades lately. That’s how wild our lives are these days… 🙂 . We are about to start the Holistic Squid’s Eczema Cure protocol. Brooke (my husband) developed eczema about 7 years ago and it has gotten progressively worse. He has tried several rounds of Whole 30 and it hasn’t helped to clear his skin up. It became clear to us that he needs some deeper healing.

We are both obsessed with spicy foods. We make everything spicy, we seriously have no boundaries. Some of our favorite peppers are jalapenos, serranos, and thai chili peppers. We have at least 5 different hot sauces in our fridge at all times and we use them on just about everything.

As part of this protocol, we will have to give up all nightshades, which means peppers, eggplants, tomatoes and white potatoes. We are pretty bummed about this, especially since our CSA has been bringing us the most amazing peppers and dry-farmed tomatoes lately. Anyway, we know it’s time that we do something about his skin, so we’re ready. But in preparation we have been feasting on peppers for the last week and this ratatouille was our last nightshade meal.

Ratatouille is considered a summer garden dish. It is bright and perfectly acidic. Topped with a poached egg, it makes a perfect light summer lunch.

Summer Garden Ratatouille

Ingredients
2 tablespoons ghee
1 onion, diced
1 medium eggplant, diced
2 tablespoons tomato paste, preferably from a jar (like this one)
6 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno, diced
2 medium zucchini, diced
1 tablespoon fresh oregano
2 tablespoons fresh thyme
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup chicken stock
salt and pepper
olive oil
poached eggs (here is how I poach eggs)

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of ghee in a large skillet with a lid, over medium-high heat. Add the onion and saute until transluscent about 5 minutes. Then add the eggplant. Saute the eggplant for about 10 minutes. Eggplants are very thirsty, so you might have to add a little more ghee.
2. Next, add the tomato paste and saute until it turns from a bright red to a brick color. Now, add chopped tomatoes and let the vegetables cook for about 5 to 7 minutes.
3. Then add garlic, bell peppers, zucchini, chopped herbs. Stir to combine.
4. Add chicken broth and place the lid on the skillet. Turn the temperature down to very low and simmer the vegetable stew for 20 minutes or until the broth has evaporates and the vegetables have become very tender.
5. Salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle with olive oil and top with a poached egg.

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