Last Updated August 7, 2024

Rat patootie.  Ratatouille.  Only one of my favorite Pixar films AND one of my favorite foods.  A cartoon that takes place in Paris, is all about cooking, French accents, chefs, crispy baguettes....ah yes.  Never fails to make me hungry for cheese, saffron, bread, and maybe some wine.  From the day I first saw it, in the theatre in New York City with my mom back in 2008, I wanted to make ratatouille.  I didn't know what it was before the movie, but Pixar animation made it look delicious.  

After some research and googling, I soon learned that there were many different versions of ratatouille, originally a hearty peasant dish from the region of Provence, France.  (Remember Igor's flashback to his mother's cooking and country home when he firsts tastes the ratatouille?) One source likened it to stew in America. What kind of stew you ask? This is exactly the point, as every region and cook in America has their own version of stew, and it can vary widely. Apparently this is also true of ratatouille.  

After making this many times over the years, I came down to two favorite recipes.  

One involved sautéing the eggplant first for 10 minutes with the spices, then adding it to the bottom of the baking dish. The remaining sliced vegetables were then layered over the eggplant, with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese between each layer of vegetables.

The second involved spreading a seasoned tomato sauce in the bottom of the baking dish and then alternating the vegetables around the dish in a pretty spiral, like it’s served in the film.

I could never decide which version I wanted to make, so finally I combined the two for the best of both worlds.  I omitted sautéing the eggplant, kept the tomato sauce on the bottom, and kept the cheese and the pretty spiral.

That combination is what follows.

Looking for an oval baking dish? I use this Le Creuset pan and couldn’t love it more for casseroles and baking! It’s prettier than a 9x13 rectangular pan and is so easy to clean, even the baked on cheese from this dish!

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Ratatouille

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups / 355g tomato purée or sauce (unseasoned)

• 1/2 onion, finely chopped

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 tsp fresh oregano or 1/4 tsp dried

• 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

• 2 Tbsp / 28g olive oil

• 8 oz / 240g mushrooms, thinly sliced

• 1 medium eggplant

• 1 medium zucchini

• 1 medium yellow squash

• 1 bell pepper, optional

• 1 cup / 110g shredded parmesan cheese

• fresh or dried thyme

• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Oven 375°F / 177°C.  Ungreased oval baking dish, about 10in / 25cm long, or 9x13in / 23x33cm pan. 

1. Add tomato purée to a small bowl.  Stir in onion, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, 1 tablespoon of oil, salt, and pepper.  Spread in the bottom of the baking dish.

2. Layer sliced mushrooms over tomato sauce.

3. Using a mandolin or by hand, slice eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, and bell pepper into 1/4 inch slices.

4. Working in concentric circles, alternate and arrange the vegetables over the mushrooms.  You may have a small handful of misfit vegetables left over.  Save for another use (stir fry!) or lift a layer of your vegetables in the pan and sneak the excess underneath where the eye can't see. 

5. Drizzle vegetables with remaining tablespoon of oil, season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle cheese evenly over top.  Sprinkle thyme over cheese. 

6. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until tomato sauce is bubbling around edges of the pan and vegetables are tender when pierced with a knife.  

7. Eat as is, or served over quinoa, rice, couscous, or with some crusty French bread!

Jenny's Notes:

• 1 6oz can / 170g tomato paste mixed with 3/4 cup / 170g water can be substituted for the tomato purée.

• Sometimes I omit the red pepper flakes and use a spicy oil in place of the plain olive oil.

• If you want to save time assembling the vegetables you can layer them instead of alternating and making circles. i.e. layer all the eggplant slices, then squash, zucchini, etc.  

• You could add an extra layer of cheese between the mushrooms and vegetables.  

• Feel free to add or substitute vegetables!