Roasted Butternut Squash Ratatouille

Years ago, even before I went vegan, I regularly made a roasted butternut squash ratatouille. I don’t even remember where the recipe came from, but it was always a hit with guests.

When I moved to Guatemala, I forgot all about the butternut squash version of ratatouille because I could rarely find the squash here. At this Sunday’s market in Panajachel, however, one of my favorite vendors had a pile of them… score!

I already had some Japanese eggplant, but without my old recipe I had to rely on memory for the other ingredients. Onion, red pepper, carrots, summer squash, tomato sauce. The one thing I remember was the beautiful fresh flavors of fresh basil and parsley.

I set to work peeling and chopping, hoping for the best. It came out even better than I’d remembered.

Note: I used Japanese eggplant, but any type of eggplant works well. If you’re using a larger variety of eggplant, I recommend salting it and letting it stand 30 minutes, then rinsing it and cutting it into 1 inch cubes. Salting the eggplant will remove the bitterness.