We're excited to continue our trip around the world with Bison Ratatouille! Ordinarily, you wouldn't mix meat and a traditionally vegetarian dish, but we decided to test it out and see what happens. It tasted amazing! Ratatouille was first created by our friends in France who were primarily poor farmers who just harvested their vegetables during the summer in the 18th century. The taste is a blend of acidic and richness that is sharply cut by the vegetables and garlic. In this recipe, you'll taste a strong bit of tomato which is only enhanced by the flavor of the vegetables.
While it is possible to finely cut the vegetables in this recipe, we do recommend a mandoline slicer to ensure all the vegetables are sliced thinly. We used a cast iron to bake the ratatouille and cooked the meat first to ensure it was thoroughly cooked through before we ate everything.
Ingredients:
Vegetables
2 eggplants (we suggest smaller circumference eggplants)
6 Roma tomatoes
2 yellow squashes
2 zucchinis
Vegetable and Bison Sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
1 yellow bell pepper, finely diced
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
1/2 lb ground bison (set aside from after cooking first - see directions)
Bison & Herb Seasoning
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil, from 8-10 leaves
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 lb ground bison (set aside from after cooking first - see directions)
Directions:
In a skillet, cook the 1 pound ground bison with salt and pepper until done and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
Slice the eggplant, tomatoes, squash, and zucchinis to about 1-2mms, either with a knife or using a mandoline slicer. Be careful!
Heat the olive oil in a cast-iron pan over medium-high heat.
Sauté the onion, garlic, and peppers for 5-10 minutes.
Season the mixture with salt and pepper and stir in the tomatoes, basil, and 1/2 lb of ground bison.
Smooth the surface with the spatula so you can easily place the vegetables on an even surface.
Arrange the veggies in an alternating pattern: eggplant, tomato, squash, zucchini, eggplant, tomato, squash, zucchini, etc. Start on the outer edge of the pan and work your way inward. Near the end/middle of the pan, you may need to overlap some of the other vegetables slightly.
After the vegetables are arranged, mix together the basil, garlic, parsley, thyme, salt, pepper, and olive oil in a bowl with the remaining 1/2 bison.
Serve the herb seasoning over top of the vegetables
Cover the full pan with foil and bake for 40 minutes. The foil allows the bison and herbs to not burn, much like if you're making a pie and don't want the crust to brown too much.
Remove the foil, then bake for another 20 minutes, until the vegetables are softened.
Serve and enjoy!
