Tex-Mex Ratatouille
Tex-Mex Ratatouille is quick and easy to put together. It's a great way to get your teenagers, who all seem to love Tex-Mex cooking, to eat a zucchini recipe. "Beef it up" to main dish status: just serve over rice topped with shredded chicken or beef. If it's a dairy meal sprinkle this pareve recipe with shredded cheddar cheese and crushed taco chips. I call that: Ra-taco-tuille!
Tex-Mex Ratatouille is quick and easy to put together. It's a great way to get your teenagers, who all seem to love Tex-Mex cooking, to eat a zucchini recipe. "Beef it up" to main dish status: just serve over rice topped with shredded chicken or beef. If it's a dairy meal sprinkle this pareve recipe with shredded cheddar cheese and crushed taco chips. I call that: Ra-taco-tuille!
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tomato diced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 large zucchini cut into medium dice
- 1/2 medium dice
- 1 can corn drained
- 1 teaspoon pickled jalapeno pepper minced
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro or 2 tablespoons frozen finely chopped
- Carbohydrate 10.2932225 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 3.21915 g
- Fiber 2.27602504582405 g
- Protein 2.1504285 g
- Saturated Fat 0.4643588 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (138g)
- Sodium 13.0951 mg
- Sugar 8.01719745417595 g
- Trans Fat 0.1588423 g
- Calories 71 calories
Step-by-step
- Heat oil in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring until it begins to brown. Lower heat to medium, add garlic and stir one minute until fragrant. Do not allow garlic to brown. Add zucchini, bell pepper and corn. Stir, cover and cook until vegetables begin to soften, about 10 minutes.
- Uncover, add jalapeno pepper, tomato, and cumin. Cook uncovered, until vegetables are very tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in cilantro. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Swapping fresh cilantro for frozen leaves introduces excess moisture that requires an extra two to three minutes of uncovered simmering to evaporate before the final seasoning step. Achieving proper texture in this vegetable medley depends strictly on managing moisture release across two distinct cooking phases. Dicing the zucchini and bell peppers into uniform medium cubes ensures they soften at an identical rate during the initial ten-minute covered steam. Lowering the heat from medium-high to medium when adding the minced garlic prevents the sulfur compounds from burning and turning acrid within sixty seconds. Uncovering the skillet for the subsequent fifteen to twenty minutes allows excess liquid from the tomatoes and corn to reduce, concentrating the natural sugars without turning the squash to mush. Ground cumin added during this second phase blooms its fat-soluble aromatic compounds directly in the remaining olive oil. Prepared mixtures store safely in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days. Reheating should occur gently over medium-low heat in a skillet rather than a microwave to preserve the structural integrity of the zucchini pieces and prevent a watery consistency.
