This post is produced in partnership with Le Creuset Canada

T’is the season for entertaining, right? Whilst I love evening events, I’m also a huge fan of more casual get togethers like a holiday brunch for friends. With this in mind, when Le Creuset Canada  asked me to select a couple of pieces to work with recently, I chose one especially with this type of casual get together in mind – the 4.9L Rectangular Roaster.

The even heat distribution of this versatile enamelled cast iron roaster makes it ideal for oven-roasted chicken, homemade lasagna, casseroles and roasted vegetables. Wide helper handles make for easier lifting when wearing oven mitts.

For a fairly hands-off holiday brunch, I like to choose dishes I can prep well in advance and I do love a good pan of roasted vegetables so I was planning making a variation on ratatouille in the Roaster to use in a quiche. Then I wondered if I might combine eggs with the vegetables to make this the perfect all-in-one brunch dish – Ratatouille with Baked Eggs.

I actually used my Covered Sauté Pan to cook off the vegetables separately before placing them in the roaster to bake the eggs and it made for a pretty efficient (and clean) prep. I like to cook the vegetables on their own before combining them so they are all cooked to the perfect amount of “doneness”. For entertaining, you can make the ratatouille in advance and then add the eggs around 30 minutes before you are serving. This makes a colourful (and delicious!) centrepiece for any holiday brunch table. Just serve it with flatbreads for an easy yet impressive dish that will be come your “go to” eggs for brunch!

Yield: Serves 6

Ratatouille with Baked Eggs

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Easy stovetop ratatouille with baked eggs. Perfect for brunch with friends!

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Ingredients

• A total of 1/3 cup (80 mL) olive oil, divided over the recipe
• 2 medium onions (approx 400g total), finely sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 baby or 1 medium eggplant (approx 400g total), diced into small cubes
• 1 796 mL can whole tomatoes with their juices
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme
• 4 small zucchini (approx 800g total), diced into small cubes
• Approx 1/2 cup loosely packed fresh basil, finely sliced
• 6 large eggs
• Flatbreads, to serve
• Fresh basil, to serve
• Freshly ground black pepper, to serve

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 375˚F.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large skillet or sauté pan, over medium-high heat.
3. Cook the onions and garlic until they are just starting to soften and colour slightly, around 5 minutes.
4. Remove onions from pan and scatter evenly in a large roasting pan.
5. Place the skillet back on medium-high heat and add 2 tablespoons more oil. Cook the eggplant with the thyme, salt and pepper for approximately 5 minutes, until it’s just starting to colour.
6. Add the tomatoes and cook until the mixture is bubbling, around 3-5 minutes more.
7. Remove eggplant from the pan and pour evenly in the roasting pan.
8. Place the skillet back on medium-high heat and add 2 tablespoons more oil. Cook the zucchini with the basil for approx 5 minutes, until it’s just starting to colour.
9. Remove zucchini from the pan and add to the vegetables in the roasting pan.
10. Give everything in the roasting pan a good stir. Make six small indentations in the vegetable mixture. Carefully crack the eggs, without breaking the yolks into the hollowed out spaces (you might want to crack them into a cup and slowly pour them in the roasting pan).
11. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the egg whites are set. Sprinkle with fresh basil and freshly ground black pepper and serve with flatbread.

What about you – what’s on your holiday brunch table?

Buy the 4.9L Rectangular Roaster

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Disclosure: Le Creuset Canada provided me with cookware in exchange for recipe development and content creation. I was not otherwise compensated for this post. Please note that this post contains affiliate links, meaning if you click over and purchase something, I will receive a very small percentage of the purchase price (at no extra cost to you). Thank you in advance!