Well, guess what movie we just saw. We had so much fun watching Ratatouille, and of course it inspired us to try and make it just as in the movie. We were very pleased with this meal. We often have ratatouille, but not sliced in small slices as these. It did make it much more flavorful, and I was really happy with my pepper sauce. The touch of sweet cinnamon was really lovely.

Ratatouille

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

  • 4 cloves garlic, whole but peeled
  • 2 eggplants, long skinny shaped would be best
  • 6-8 tomatoes, very thinly sliced
  • 2 zucchini, very thinly sliced
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 teaspoons herbs de Provence
  • salt to taste
  • red bell pepper sauce

for the red bell pepper sauce:

  • 1 jar red bell peppers with liquid
  • dash salt
  • dash of cayenne pepper
  • splash of Tabasco
  • 2-3 tbs. cinnamon syrup (as for flavored coffee)
  • white wine to thin

Ratatouille (before cooking)Ratatouille serving variation

Directions:

  1. Slice the vegetables in very thin slices.
  2. Place 1 clove of garlic in the center on each individual serving dishes.
  3. Carefully arrange the slices of vegetables around the dish, alternating in flavor and covering the garlic, it will look as a slight mound.
  4. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil over each of the dishes, sprinkle with herbs de Provence and a dash of salt.
  5. Cover with foil, as you do not want the delicate thin slices to burn, and place in the oven to bake for 15-20 minutes. With such thin slices, it doesn’t take long. Check them to see if they are ready, uncover for the last 3-5 minutes for a golden crispy edge to some.
  6. Serve with a generous portion of red bell pepper sauce.

For the red bell pepper sauce:

  1. Puree all the ingredients.
  2. Warm in a sauce pan.
  3. Season to taste with more alt, Tabasco or cayenne.
  4. Serve gracefully over and around the ratatouille
  5. Alternatively, you can use fresh red bell peppers, I would suggest 3.
  6. De-seed and cut into small pieces. Saute them in a bit of oil. The follow the instructions above. You may need a bit more liquid, a bit more white wine would be good in that case.

Notes:

It would be easiest to do this with a mandolin slicer. I don’t have one, but on my grater there is a long slot slicer that works fine, and I did come across a nifty little tomato slicer, it looks like an egg slicer but for tomatoes. The eggplants, I cut by hand using a very sharp knife.