Food For Thought

We’ve all seen it – Ratatouille. It’s a heartwarming tale of a rat that cooks for the best food critic in all of Paris, and succeeds. I first saw it with my nieces about a year ago, and immediately fell in love with it. I had never heard of Ratatouille before nor had I seen it made – until last week when I was perusing Deb’s wonderful website. It looked just like the movie version, and tasted much better than I could ever imagine roasted vegetables in tomato sauce ever possibly could.

I was happy to finally get some use out of my mandoline (the only other time it was used was when I catered for 80 this past spring – more on that later). Not only was it simple to make, but it’s a collage of fresh vegetables and spices that meld into something that does exactly what it did to Anton Ego in the movie – sends you back home. I’ve gained an appreciation for my parents cooking over the past year, because I never knew the amount of work that went into cooking a meal for at least four people every night of the week. Now I know why some nights degraded to Shake&Bake or, “Hey, let’s order a pizza.” I try to cook every night, but some nights, Jimmy John’s is just too irresistible. But I digress.

If you don’t have a mandoline (or even if you do), be careful when slicing the vegetables (and don’t be like me and slice off some of your index finger…oops.) You can also serve this over your grain of choice; I just made Couscous because I completely forgot until the Ratatouille was almost done.

Remy’s Ratatouille (adapted from SmittenKitchen.com)

1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
1 cup tomato puree
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 small eggplant
1 smallish zucchini
1 smallish yellow squash
1 longish red bell pepper
Large pinch of red pepper flakes
1 tsp dried Thyme
Salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 375F.

On your mandoline (or very carefully with a knife), slice the ends off of the zucchini, squash, and eggplant. Slice the vegetables into 1/16” slices. Cut off the stem of the red pepper and carefully remove the seeds, leaving the flesh intact. Cut off the bottom to make a tube, and slice this on the mandoline as well.

In your baking dish (I used a 7”x11” pan – a round or oval one would work as well) pour in the tomato puree. Sprinkle the onion, garlic, salt, 1 tablespoon Olive Oil, pepper, and red pepper over the tomato sauce. Stir well. Layer the vegetables so a small part of each vegetable is visible. Do this around the entire dish until it is full. You will have veggies left over. Sprinkle the thyme and remaining tablespoon olive oil over the dish and cover with parchment paper. Bake for 45 – 50 minutes, until the tomato sauce is bubbly and the veggies are soft, but still retain their shape. Mix in the remaining veggies with your grain of choice. Serves 4.