Roasted Vegetable Gouda Stacks

Thoughts & Inspiration

This was something I tried for my dinner party.  I did a play on a layered ratatouille.  This dish is fun, light and simple with twist of smokiness from the Gouda.  Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 cup of your favorite red sauce (any pasta sauce)
2 Tbsp of olive oil (I used a flavor infused olive oil - Garlic Olive Oil from Trader Joe's)
1 yellow squash, sliced
1 long Japanese eggplant, sliced
1 zucchini, sliced
3 Roma tomatoes, sliced
Gouda cheese, cut into thin slices (approximately the same size of the vegetable slices)
Toothpicks

Spice Mix - Combine all the spice together
1/2 tsp Herbes de Provence
1/4 tsp Ancho Chili Powder (or Chipotle Chili)
1/4 tsp Paprika
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Pour tomato sauce into the bottom of a baking dish, approximately 10-13 inches across the long way. Drizzle 1 Tbsp of olive oil over the sauce and add a few pinches of the spice mix.  

Trim the ends off the yellow squash, eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes.  On a mandoline or using a very sharp knife, cut all the vegetables into thin slices, approximately 1/4-inch thick (you want to have approximately 24 slices of each, to create 12 stacks).

Start arranging the vegetables in stacks on top of the tomato sauce.  Start with the yellow squash on the bottom, followed by a slice of Gouda, tomato, eggplant and zucchini.  Sprinkle with spice mix.  Continuing layering on top with Gouda, yellow squash, eggplant, zucchini and tomato.  Place a toothpick starting in the center of each stack and push all the way down to the bottom to hold all together.  Repeat this to make all of your vegetable stacks.

Drizzle the remaining tablespoon of olive oil over the vegetables and season them generously with the remainder of the spice mix.

Cover the baking dish with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit the inside of the dish.  Bake for approximately 45 minutes, until the vegetables have cooked through and released juices.  Remove from oven carefully.  The stacks may have slided down, but you can carefully pick the toothpick back up and re-structure your stack.  The tomato sauce should be bubbling with the Gouda melted. 

Variation:  If you don't like Gouda, Smoked Mozzarella would also be great in this dish!