GIANT WHITE BEAN RATAOUILLE using fresh garden produce, homemade fresh tomato sauce and fresh herbs! Greek gigante beans aka giant white beans are added to boost the protein content of this classic dish and keep you full and satisfied!
INGREDIENTS YOU WILL NEED:
- gigante beans/Greek giant beans, corona beans or large lima beans cooked from dry
- fresh tomato sauce (see my garden fresh tomato sauce recipe) OR used jarred
- onion
- red bell pepper
- 2 tomatoes
- zucchini
- garlic
- fresh basil
- 1/2 eggplant, optional
- olive oil for sauteeing or (use broth for oil free option)
- salt and pepper to your taste
- fresh whole grain bread to serve
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STEPS:
FIRST STEP: Cook the beans from dry. I use my Instant Pot pressure cooker for this step. You must soak the beans in water overnight for best results. If you cant find Greek gigante beans or don’t feel like waiting overnight, then you can use large white lima beans/ butter beans or chickpeas in this recipe. After soaking overnight, drain the water, cover with fresh water and pressure cook for 40 minutes. Add a dash of salt to the water if you want them to have more flavor.
NEXT make a homemade tomato sauce if you have fresh garden tomatoes to use up using my recipe here. OR just sub for a nice jarred tomato sauce. Add 3 cups of the cooked beans to the tomato sauce in a large pot and let simmer while you prep the rest of the recipe. Add any herbs/ salt to your taste.
NEXT, cook the rest of the veggies separately so they don’t get too mushy or watery. Heat up some olive oil in a saucepan and cook 1/2 of an onion, 2 cloves of minced garlic and a large chopped bell pepper. Add in 2 diced tomatoes and cook till the pepper is al dente and the tomatoes are soft. Season with a dash of salt and pepper to your taste. Transfer pepper mixture to the sauce/bean pot.
In the same pan cook the other 1/2 of the onion, 2 more cloves minced garlic and 1 large diced zucchini. Transfer zucchini mixture to the sauce/ bean pot.
LASTLY simmer everything together for a couple more minutes. Add fresh herbs and adjust the seasoning to to your taste. Serve right away with some fresh bread!
RECIPE NOTES:
If you can’t find/ don’t feel like making the giant white beans, chickpeas or canned white lima beans will also work.
Other veggie add ins- eggplant is a classic ingredient in this dish, I personally don’t love it so I didn’t include it! Also yellow summer squash is commonly used.
I cook the veggies separately so they don’t get mushy and watery, and this seemed to be a more authentic method of making this recipe when I was researching ratatouille recipes. But for an easy one pot option feel free to cook the veggies together first, then add the sauce and beans and simmer all together!
GIANT WHITE BEAN RATATOUILLE
Ingredients
- 2 cups gigante beans/Greek giant beans, corona beans or large lima beans cooked from dry, see notes
- 3 cups tomato sauce see my garden fresh tomato sauce recipe
- 1 large onion diced
- 1 large red bell pepper diced
- 2 tomatoes chopped
- 1 large zucchini diced
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- fresh basil chopped
- olive oil for sauteeing or use broth for oil free option
- salt and pepper to your taste
- fresh whole grain bread to serve
Instructions
- 1. Cook giant white beans from dry- Soak beans overnight. In the morning drain the water and cover with fresh water by 3 inches. Add a dash of salt (optional, for more flavor). Pressure cook in electric pressure cooker for 40 minutes. Do a natural release when done. Let cool then drain water.
- 2. Make homemade tomato sauce from fresh tomatoes using my fresh tomato sauce recipe on this blog. Or use jarred sauce. In a large sauce pan combine tomato sauce with the drained giant white beans, bring to a simmer while making the rest of the recipe.
- 3. For the ratatouille- Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a pan and add 1/2 of the chopped onion, 1/2 of the minced garlic, red bell pepper and chopped tomato. Season with a dash of salt and pepper. Simmer till the pepper is cooked but still al dente. Transfer to the other sauce and bean pot.
- 4. To the same pan cook the other 1/2 of the onion, garlic and zucchini. Cook til the zucchini is soft but still has a slight bite to it. Splash in broth or white wine to deglaze the pan as needed. Transfer to the sauce/ bean pot.
- 6. Stir ratatouille together and season with more fresh herbs, pepper/ salt to your taste. Let simmer for a couple more minutes all together. Serve with warm bread.
