Ratatouille

Rata-tat-tat-ta-ta-tat-ta-tat-atouille.

(Sorry. Sometimes I can't help myself)

I don't get to make this yummy, filling, and entirely wholesome dish very often...but one of my local grocers had zucchini and yellow squash ON SALE...and when I saw the combination, this was the first thing that leapt to my mind. I have a few different recipes for Ratatouille, but I wanted to make the one that has become the most famous... Thomas Keller's creation that was animated by Pixar on the movie about a rat than can cook (we love that movie).

I ran into a couple issues right away. The first was that I had a hard time finding those cute little Italian eggplants...the ones that are much smaller than their traditional bulbous cousins...which are great for Eggplant Parmesan and Grilled Eggplant (recipes for later), but terrible for getting those nice small circles of squash that lies in neat concentric circles in the movie. Normally, the size of the eggplant you use is not an issue...after all, ratatouille is more or less a stew of sorts...but to get Ratatouille's (Thomas Keller's) ratatouille, I needed nice, small eggplants.

The second was that I don't own a mandoline, so my slices were slightly thicker than the required 1/16 of an inch. Now, personally, I don't MIND thicker slices of zucchini, yellow squash, and eggplant. But you might.

As it turned out, my squashes were all different sizes, so it didn't look as pretty as the movie version...but luckily, when it comes to food, looks aren't everything. And it was very, very yummy.

I DID double this...because it's what I do. And I served it with crusty french bread.

Oh - incidentally, I didn't get this off Thomas Keller's website or out of his book...although I could've. I stumbled on it in Smitten Kitchen's archives...and I checked it against his original, and found it a sufficient. So here is Ratatouille's Ratatouille...Bon Apetite!

Oh, wait...I have another footnote...uhhh...I used A LOT more garlic than the recipe called for...and I actually used ACTUAL GARLIC, not my jar of pre-minced stuff. And because of that, I ran into the same problem I ALWAYS run into when I use real garlic...and that's that I have to peel twice as much as I use because I eat it like candy.

Oh, I see you cringing behind your screens!! Don't think I don't!!! I used to think the SAME WAY...but then I lived in Chicago a couple doors down from this AMAZING Italian lady named Rose who was an AMAZING cook, and an even MORE amazing friend...whom I desperately miss...and she used to eat garlic like that while she was creating her authentic Italian masterpieces.

And one day, after watching her do it, I tried it, and then I was hooked.

For schizel.

Sure...I don't get many kisses...but amazingly, I don't get sick, either. (Although that might be because no one can get close to me for a couple days to spend their germs).

Ratatouille

1/2 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced (or more...chomp, chomp, chomp, BURP!)

1 cup tomato puree

2 TBS olive oil, divided

1 small eggplant ("Italian eggplant" works best)

1 zucchini

1 yellow squash

1 red bell pepper (go for length, not width)

Few sprigs fresh thyme

Salt and pepper

Few TBS goat cheese, for serving

1. Preheat oven to 375

2. Pour tomato puree into the bottom of an oval baking dish, approximately 10 inches across the length (if you're doubling...you need a bigger dish). Drop sliced garlic cloves and chopped onion into the sauce, stir in 1 TBS of the olive oil and season the sauce generously with salt and pepper.

3. Trim the ends of the zucchini, eggplant, and yellow squash. As carefully as you can, trim and core red pepper, leaving edges intact, so you can look through it.

4. On a mandoline, adjustable blade slicer, or with a VERY sharp knife, cut the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, and red pepper into very thin slices, approximately 1/16-inch thick.

5. Atop the tomato sauce, arrange slices of prepared vegetables concentrically from the outer edge to the inside of the baking dish, overlapping a bit so the flat surface is visible, alternating veggies.

6. Drizzle reaming TBS of olive oil over vegetables and season them generously with salt and pepper. Remove the leaves from the thyme sprigs and sprinkle thyme over dish.

7. Cover the dish with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside.

8. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until vegetables have released their liquid and are clearly cooked, but with some structure left so they are not totally limp. They shouldn't be brown at the edges, and you should see tomato sauce bubbling up around them.

9. Serve with soft goat cheese crumbled on top and some crusty French Bread! Viola!

courtesy Smitten Kitchen, adapted from Thomas Keller and his restaurant, the French Laundry