#54 - Ratatouille's Ratatouille

We've talked about Smitten Kitchen before, and we've shown her Spiced Sweet Potato Wedges and her Red Bean Chili on this site.

But this was the recipe that started it all for us. We saw this post, thought it was awesome, and followed her blog. Now we're finally getting around to making it.

Ratatouille's Ratatouille

From Smitten Kitchen
Yep, this is the recipe for the ratatouille made at the end of the movie Ratatouille. We do, however, try to keep our kitchen rodent free.
This recipe calls for a lot of slicing and dicing. So after cutting the garlic by hand, we pulled out our handy KitchenAid slicer attachment to do the rest.
Then, just like in the movie, you layer all the vegetables in concentric rings until it looks all pretty.
And it looks pretty when it's cooked too.
This was a really good recipe, and a fun way to use up all of Farmer Randy's vegetables. We had it as a side dish to a meatloaf, but it could be eaten on its own if you want a light vegetarian meal.
If you want to eat like a rat, here's what to do:

Ingredients

• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, very thinly sliced
• 1 cup tomato puree
• 2 Tbs olive oil, divided
• 1 small eggplant
• 1 small zucchini
• 1 small yellow squash
• 1 red bell pepper
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Soft goat cheese (optional)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Pour tomato puree in the bottom of an oval baking dish.
3. Drop the sliced garlic pieces and chopped onion into the sauce.
4. Stir in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, and season generously with salt and pepper.
5. Slice the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, and red bell pepper into very thin slices, approximately 1/16-inch thick.
6. Arrange slices of cut vegetables atop the tomato puree, going from the outer edge to the inside of the baking dish, overlapping slightly.
7. Drizzle the remaining tablespoon of olive oil over the vegetables and season with salt and pepper.
8. Remove the leaves from the sprigs of thyme and sprinkle over the vegetables.
9. Cover the dish with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside.
10. Bake for 45-55 minutes, until the vegetables have released their liquid and are clearly cooked and the tomato sauce is bubbling.
11. Serve with a dab of soft goat cheese (optional).