Deconstructed Ratatouille Pizza (with video)

Deconstructed Ratatouille Pizza, made from classic ratatouille ingredients; eggplant, zucchini and peppers, thinly sliced on top a pesto covered pizza crust.

Deconstructed Ratatouille Pizza
Deconstructed Ratatouille Pizza

What Is Ratatouille?

Ratatouille is a rustic, French countryside dish incorporating many favored summertime garden ingredients.

When you grow lots of tomatoes, zucchini and eggplant during the summer months, you often end up with more than you can eat. 

Ratatouille is the resolve for such an overgrown garden.

The veggies are simmered and reduced, like a stew, with many of the Herbs de Provence; thyme, basil, marjoram, oregano and of course a little wine. 

summertime gardening for healthier food
Summertime Gardening For Healthier Food

This European summer stew, condenses a large mass of veggies and serves beautifully with crusty bread, over pasta or freeze small batches for the winter months.

In this way, we can enjoy our summer garden all over again. 

Deconstructed Or Constructed

If the rustic French version of a summer garden is condensed veggies into a lovely spread, how about we showcase them in a new way!

Let’s construct those same lovely summer garden vegetables, while they still look plump and colorful, into the most beautiful topping for a pizza; a Ratatouille Pizza!

Herb Glazing The Ratatouille Veggies
Herb Glazing The Ratatouille Veggies

After all, a Mediterranean Ratatouille Crostini is the reduction of summer’s vegetables on top of a crostini, for a lovely appetizer or tapas dish.

So why not roast the same vegetables in visibly large strips and serve them constructed over a homemade pizza dough, the same dough I like to use for making a Stromboli!

Peppers, Eggplant and Zucchini Ratatouille Pizza
Peppers, Eggplant and Zucchini Ratatouille Pizza

Homemade Pizza Is The Best

Who doesn’t love pizza! Thick crust or thin, there is something totally scrumptious about well thought out toppings over a homemade crust. 

Luscious Crust For A Ratatouille Pizza
Luscious Crust For A Ratatouille Pizza

When a pizza crust is homemade, what goes into the dough can be as thoughtful as what goes on top. 

With an easy to make (really, all my kids make this dough, and have since they were teens), Homemade Bread dough, the rest is easy!

Rolling pizza dough into a baking sheet pan
Rolling Pizza Dough Into A Baking Sheet Pan

I will often add grated cheeses, sometimes garlic and always herbs to make the pizza crust just as much the star as the toppings. 

What better way to compliment the roasted ratatouille ingredients on this pizza than to use garden fresh herbs in the crust too!

How To Chiffonade Fresh Herbs and Other Leaves

Green Sauce For A Deconstructed Ratatouille Pizza

Tomato sauce ain’t the only sauce in town!

In fact, once you’ve had ‘green’ sauce on your pizza you will realize where the real flavor in your pizza is coming from. 

Pesto, salsa verde and Chermoula are all green sauces that have no tomatoes in them.

For this pizza I chose the Moroccan Chermoula sauce. It’s fast to make and keeps in the fridge for days. 

Chermoula Sauce For A Ratatouille Pizza
Chermoula Sauce For A Ratatouille Pizza

Chermoula is a puree of parsley, cilantro, garlic, lemon, olive oil, smokey spices and a little heat. 

Nothing fancy and no cooking. Just toss the ingredients into a food processor or blender and in one minute you have a scrumptious sauce. 

Make plenty. Have some on your pizza and on another night try roasting a Whole Fish or lamb with Chermoula.

If you’ve any leftover, freeze it for all your cold weather soups and stews. 

Chermoula sauce spread on top pizza dough
Chermoula Sauce Spread On Top Pizza Dough

Think Ahead Ratatouille

While my first ratatouille was made at the end of summer from garden veggies or my local farmer’s markets, this pizza was created on a chilly spring evening. 

Ratatouille winter or summer
Ratatouille Winter or Summer

Making this pizza assured me of which vegetables and herbs I will be planting in my garden this summer. 

In fact, the seeds have already been started indoors so I can experience the excitement of the months ahead and the many batches of ratatouille I will be making. 

Ingredients Needed

Equipment Needed

  • Baking sheet pan or pizza pan
  • Rolling pin
  • Cutting board
  • Chopping knife
  • Saute pan
  • Slotted spatula
  • Food processor
  • Oven
Deconstructed Ratatouille Ingredients
Deconstructed Ratatouille Ingredients
Deconstructed Ratatouille Pizza

Deconstructed Ratatouille Pizza

Eggplant, zucchini and peppers roasted in herbs and layered in strips across a homemade pizza dough with a schmear of pesto and a sprinkle of cheese. 
5 from 2 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Pizza
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Keyword: Deconstructed Ratatouille Pizza
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings: 8 servings

Equipment

  • Large skillet
  • Pizza pan, or baking sheet pan

Ingredients

  • 1 Pizza dough Homemade or store bought
  • 1 Eggplant medium
  • 2 Zucchini medium
  • 1 lb Multi-colored Mini peppers
  • 1/2 cup Pesto Homemade or store bought
  • 1/4 cup Olive oil or as needed
  • 2 tbsp Butter
  • 1 tsp Smoked paprika Homemade or store bought
  • 3 tbsp Coarse salt to de-bitter eggplant and season
  • 1 tsp Sumac
  • 2 Garlic cloves crushed
  • 1/4 cup Manchego cheese or other hard cheese, grated

Instructions

  • Slice the eggplant in half, lengthwise. Then cut lots of thin strips, keeping the shape of the eggplant visible. Sprinkle 1 -2 tablespoons of salt on both sides and all to sit an hour to de-bitter the eggplant. Pat dry.
  • Slice the zucchini and peppers in the same way and set aside. They do not need to be de-bittered.
  • Heat a large saute pan with 1 tablespoon of oil and 1 tablespoon of butter. Stir in 1 clove of crushed garlic, 1/2 teaspoon paprika and sumac and quickly glaze both sides of the eggplant. Remove from the pan.
  • Add more oil, butter, garlic and seasoning and glaze the zucchini and then the peppers in the same way as the eggplant. Remove.
  • Preheat the oven to 400.
  • Roll out the pizza dough and press into the pan of choice, round or a rectangle baking sheet. Crimp the edges.
  • Spread the pesto evenly across the dough.
  • Decoratively layer the glazed vegetables across the top of the pesto covered dough. Sprinkle the cheese.
  • Bake until the crust is golden, about 20 minutes.

Video

Deconstructed ratatouille pizza
Deconstructed Ratatouille Pizza
Robin
5 from 2 votes (1 rating without comment)
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