Ratatouille

First new recipe of the new year. After watching the movie Ratatouille a few times with my niece and nephew, I decided I wanted to make it as my first new dish of the new year. Sticking to my New Year's resolution "make something new each week"... here's my ratatouille.

First, I must not have paid much attention to the movie b/c I thought ratatouille [the dish, not the mouse] was a peasants soup, but it's not soup. I used Julia Child's recipe as a guide, modifying it a tad for ease and personal taste. I don't like peppers, so I added yellow squash instead. Instead of making my own tomato puree out of tomatoes, I used canned tomato puree.

I sauteed the veggies after having them sit in a bowl with salt for 30 minutes. Once they browned, I moved them to a side dish. Then I threw in some onions and garlic and sauteed those. I added the tomato puree until it started to bubble. In my casserole dish, I poured the tomato mixture then topped it with the eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash, alternating the veggies. Julia Child then says to put the fire proof casserole dish on the stove and cook for 10 minutes covered and then 10 or so minutes uncovered. I skipped that step. I made some couscous and topped that with the ratatouille. Stuck it in the microwave to heat a little longer. And ta-da...L's homemade ratatouille. Yummy with a glass of Cab.

When I go to reheat, I'll probably pop it in the oven and cook it for 15 minutes. I've read that ratatouille is even better the day after.