Ratatouille
Making this dish has been on my bucket list for a while, and not for the reason most people have a recipe on their mind, but because I just love the Little Chef!
In case you don’t recognize him, he is the most wonderful Little Chef in the Disney movie Ratatouille. A must see for all ages!! In this movie you will hear, Anyone Can Cook - a very important statement, it might be from a Disney movie, but it can be life changing!
This guy . . .
So, what is ratatouille? In the movie, Ratatouille is featured as a vegetable dish, and considered a simple peasant dish in the time era. In the late 18th century in France, it was considered a coarse stew. The word ratatouille derives from a French word meaning “to stir up”. The modern form of ratatouille – tomatoes, garlic, onion, zucchini, eggplant, bell pepper, marjoram, fennel, basil, bay leaf and thyme, or a mix of green herbs like herbes de Provence – does not appear until 1930.
Anyone can cook…and anyone can lead! Chef Gusteau, from the movie Ratatouille, says You must be imaginative, strong-hearted. You must try things that may not work, and you must not let anyone define your limits because of where you come from. Your only limit is your soul. What I say is true – anyone can cook…but only the fearless can be great. Well that might go just a little deeper than trying a new recipe, but for our purpose just take anything you want out of that statement - Troost Institute for Leadership Education uses this statement as an outline for their training! Enjoy the quotes from this Disney movie and dig as deep as you want, but for now let’s cook. I just love the movie and have always wanted to try this dish for that reason. So here we go on another fun experiment!
INGREDIENTS -
4 Tbsp olive oil
2 sweet yellow onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
4-5 medium tomatoes, sliced
4 medium zucchini, sliced
2 medium eggplant, sliced
1 each yellow and orange bell pepper, sliced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried dill
2 Tbsp fresh oregano leaves, shredded
2 Tbsp fresh basil leaves, shredded
salt and pepper
Try to find vegetables that are about the same size diameter to make this dish look perfect. I had some difficulty with this as it is wintertime and the selection wasn’t as plentiful as the summer garden season. The zucchini were all small and the eggplant were all big! The look wasn’t perfect but the flavors were great. It will be back on the menu in the summer when the zucchini are big and flourishing!
Slice all of the vegetables in equal rounds and if you have a slicing tool of some sort such as a mandolin, this is the perfect time to use that. The goal is for your number of vegetable slices to come out to even amounts for layering, but depending on the size of the vegetables you find, you may have a few leftovers. Not to worry, that just means vegetable stir fry is on the menu for dinner the next night!!
Drizzle oil all over the vegetables, and carefully massage it in. The easiest way to do this is to place the more tender vegetables such as tomatoes in a separate bowl to be handled more gently.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Oil a tall sided baking dish and stand the vegetable slices on end to layer the vegetables in the dish. Drizzle a little more olive oil over the top when your baking dish is full. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on top and then the herbs, reserving a few herbs to garnish after the vegetables are cooked.
Sidenote - if you watch the movie while you make the dish and also during dinner, it is so much better! 😂
Bake for one hour, your vegetables will be soft and flavorful. Remove from the oven and sprinkle any remaining fresh herbs over the top.
Well, my ratatouille is on the left and the movie photo is above. The presentation may need a little work here 😃 but the flavor was great!
Serve alongside a simple baked chicken breast and some roasted sweet potatoes for the perfect meal to accompany your movie. Keep the other items easy to prepare because you will be busy slicing vegetables! Enjoy!