ratatouille friends!

mom & i made this delightful dish the other night & liked it so much, we had it twice in one week! 

abby, kelsey & my older sister recommended the recipe { all thanks to her friend danielle. originally it was danielle's sister who tested the recipe she found on smitten kitchen - you know, the food blog that every hipster blogger delights in}.

so here we go. . . 

ratatouille's ratatouille: 

- 1/2 finely chopped onion 

- 2 minced garlic cloves

- 1 cup tomato puree {divided}

- 1 small eggplant 

- 1 smallish zucchini 

- 1 smallish yellow squash

- 1 red bell pepper 

- a couple sprigs of thyme {i simply adore the taste & smell of this herb!}

- s & p to taste

- goat cheese, for serving 

preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

pour tomato puree into bottom of an oval baking dish. {note: the first time we tried this our dish was a little too deep. try to find one that is somewhat shallow & approximately 10" across}. also, pre-cut the parchment paper to fit the top of the dish early on. drop the chopped garlic and onions into the sauce in the bottom of the pan & stir. add 1 T. o.o. to sauce & season with s & p. 

trim the ends off the red pepper and remove the core, leaving the edges intact like a tube. cut each of the veggies into very thin slices {note: we made the mistake of using the thinnest blade of the food processor. . . most of the veggies ended up paper thin & transparent! you want them to be thin, but not that thin!}atop the sauce, arrange slices of prepared veggies concentrically from the outer edge to the inside of the baking dish, overlapping just a little & alternating the veggies in a pretty pattern! as we did, there might be a few vegetables left over {you can always save and make this again the next night. . . like we did!}.

drizzle the remaining T. of o.o. over the veggies & season with more s & p. remove the leaves from the thyme sprigs with your fingertips running down the stem. sprinkle the leaves over the dish. 

carefully cover the dish with the parchment paper. 

bake for approximately 45 to 55 min. until the vegetables are clearly cooked {but not limp & lifeless}. it should not be brown at the edges & the tomato sauce should be bubbling up. 

serve with goat cheese on top & with crusty bread, polenta, couscous, or another grain! we chose polenta & it complemented it perfectly.

{for more inspiration, check out danielle's beautiful pics of her ratatouille here}

bon appetit mes cheris! 

love, 

grace from davidson, nc.