"Ratatouille" Inspired Ratatouille Recipe

I absolutely love the Disney Ratatouille movie. It's not only really cute, but the food looks so good. How do they do that to you with animated movies?! When it came out in theaters I was young enough that my mom had to drop us off and pick us up again. I watched it again about a year ago and I so badly wanted to eat the Ratatouille that Remy prepares. I went immediately to Google and searched all over and some of the recipes looked nothing like Ratatouille's and were almost more like a soup. I eventually stumbled on Smitten Kitchen's "Ratatouille's Ratatouille" recipe that's supposed to be like Remy's. Not only does it actually look like the movie's, but it's so darn good. It's become a staple for a dinner side dish. This is my recreation/slightly altered version of Smitten Kitchen's!

| Ingredients |

-1 eggplant (I use the Italian ones since they're skinny)

-1 large yellow squash

-1 cup tomato puree 

-1 large zucchini

-1/2 an onion

-2-3 cloves garlic (I use 3)

-1 bell pepper

-2 tbsp. olive oil

-Salt and pepper

-Fresh thyme

-Parchment pepper

-Goat cheese (optional topping)

| Directions |

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit.
2. Cut off the ends of the eggplant, yellow squash, and zucchini. Using a thin blade on a mandolin slicer (not to be confused with the instrument), slice all of them and set them aside. Cut off the top and bottom of the bell pepper and clean out the middle to make it like a tube. Also slice this on the mandolin then cut in half.
3. Finely chop the half onion and mince the garlic.
4. In a 2 and a half quart oval Pyrex dish, add the tomato puree, onion, garlic, and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Heavily salt and pepper.
5. In whatever order, layer the yellow squash, eggplant, zucchini, and bell pepper in an oval around the outside. Sometimes if I don't get a lot of pepper I'll layer them every other vegetable pattern instead. I always fill in the middle with a small row.
6. On top of the ratatouille, drizzle the other tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle more salt and pepper. Holding the sprig of thyme at the top, strip off the leaves and add them onto the ratatouille as well.
7. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit right on top of the ratatouille to avoid any burning. 
8. Bake for 45-55 minutes. When done, the vegetables should be mostly translucent and the tomato mixture should be bubbling.
9. Serve with a dollop of goat cheese and more salt and pepper if desired. 

Let me know if you guys try this out! Also, be really careful with mandolin slicers because when I was putting my blade in my new one I cut completely through my thumbnail and into my nail bed. Yikes! I couldn't wear nail polish for about two months..

Thanks for reading! xo