All the French I know I learned from the Lady Marmalade song. Or when Marv from Home Alone: Lost in New York says “pardonnez moi mon cherie” before getting slapped by a 90’s working woman. Even better, one of my very best friends in the world, Ashley, spent a year living in France and her use of the language blows my mind.
“Could you pass me a Croissant Chocolat, I’m almost done with my Croque Monsieur.”
Way cooler than me.
The point is this: I’m not French. I haven’t traveled the world like most of my friends. I haven’t yet seen what it has to offer. But when I got the itch to make Ratatouille I knew I had to make it as French as possible. So, ironically, I got out my Mastering Art of French Cooking by Julia Child and read what she had to say about the dish. She made it sound wonderful and aromatic and very, very time consuming. I don’t have energy to fry the eggplant separate from the zucchini or time to seed, drain, and reduce a couple pounds of tomatoes. Since my passion is making scratch food simple, why not see if I can’t make it a little less work and a little more – “Yum, pass me more Ratatouille.”
So, I made a baked version of Ratatouille that is saturated in a onion-y, garlic-y and thyme-y sauce and simmered and slathered on top of the veggies before cooking together for about 45 minutes in a nice sauna of 350 degrees. Yeah, I’d say that’s simple enough. The only real work is cutting up all those veggies to perfection. But if you have a mandolin (not the instrument) you can bust it out in under 15 minutes.
This weekend, while you’re catching up with friends or laundry (that last one would be me), try out Ratatouille with grilled, orange rosemary chicken or even a nice lemon thyme pot roast. You are just one Amelie movie reference away from Parisian.
Ingredients
Baked Ratatouille
A simplified version of a French classic, Ratatouille. Full of seasonal veggies and simmered in a tomato sauce. This recipe is a perfect side or main dish.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Ingredients
1 medium eggplant
2 yellow squash
3 zucchini
2 red peppers
4 roma tomatoes
2 cups tomato sauce
1/2 cup onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
1 tablespoon fresh, flat leaf parsley
1 teaspoon salt plus a pinch of salt for the veggies
Instructions
Peel the skin off of the eggplant. Slice the eggplant, squash, zucchini, red peppers, and tomatoes as thin as possible. Lay them on a clean paper towel or dry cloth and sprinkle with salt to let some of the water drain out.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium sauce pan, heat the tomato sauce, minced onions, minced garlic, and thyme, and place half of the heated mixture on the bottom of a small casserole dish. Place the pre-sliced vegetables intermittently in the casserole dish. Don’t worry about doing it perfectly and double bonus if there are veggies left over! No worries!
Pour the rest of the sauce on top of the veggies and brush all over. Sprinkle half of the parsley on top and bake in the oven for 45 minutes. Baste the sauce on top a few more times during the baking process.
Finish with fresh parsley and grated parmesan cheese.
Keywords: baked ratatouille, ratatouille, scratch, simple, vegetarian, veggies
