Rats In The Kitchen Ratatouille
Jackie Bullinger
Pour tomato puree into bottom of an oval baking dish, approximately 10 inches across the long way. Drop the sliced garlic cloves and chopped onion into the sauce, stir in one tablespoon of the olive oil and season the sauce generously with salt and pepper.
Atop the tomato sauce, arrange slices of prepared vegetables concentrically from the outer edge to the inside of the baking dish, overlapping so just a smidgen of each flat surface is visible, alternating vegetables. You may have a handful leftover that do not fit.
Drizzle the remaining tablespoon olive oil over the vegetables and season them generously with salt and pepper. Remove the leaves from the thyme sprigs with your fingertips, running them down the stem. Sprinkle the fresh thyme over the dish.
Bake for approximately 45 to 55 minutes, until vegetables have released their liquid and are clearly cooked, but with some structure left so they are not totally limp. They should not be brown at the edges, and you should see that the tomato sauce is bubbling up around them.
We just saw the movie too and were totally wowed by it. The kitchen stuff alone was incredible. Speaking of incredible, your ratatouille is gorgeous, Deb! Beautifully prepared and wonderfully photographed.
I went home right away and made this recipe. Of course, I overcooked it just like you said not to, but it still turned out wonderful. I am going to try it again next week, without the overcooking part this time. Thanks for your great ideas!
Oh smitten, you have inspired me again! I re-created your beautiful creation for dinner tonite, delicious! I served mine with fresh parmesan and ricotta cheese (and melted swiss on my serving) oh my, so amazing!
I made it last night. Was in a hurry, so I used Trader Joes organic basil spagetti sauce in the bottom of an oiled square pan, sliced the veggies on the slicing side of my box grater, and a knife for the red bell pepper, and layered it in rows. Olive oil and dried thyme on top, parchent paper, and baked it. Using a spatula to serve, it lifted into beautiful rows onto the plate. Even my kids loved it. Thank you!
This is a great recipe. When I cooked it for the first time for my wife and daughter they said it was fantastic. It not only looks good but it taste outragous.
This will be a keeper for our family recipe book.
Many thanks!!
I have been looking FOREVER for a Ratatouille recipe that looked like this. All the others are just a chunky veggie soup. I had some like this at a potluck the other night and it was outstanding, but I never found out who made it. They had added dashes of parmesan cheese with the spices, and no goat cheese on top. I am DEFINITELY going to try your version of this delectable dish. THANKS FOR SHARING!
Hi my name is Nichole and i am12 years old and since i love to cook I am going to be a Chef too.But when i grow up i am going to cook this recipe for my Mom,Aunt Neesie,Uncle Moose,Grandpa,Grandma,and my 2 Brothers. THANK YOU!
Very pretty and sounds delicious as well. I usually make mine as more of a stew and serve it with crusty french bread, but it is a very simple & forgiving recipe. I also favor basil & bay leaf as my spices.
Wow! I just wanted to say thank you for the recipe. I made it tonight as a surprise for my girlfriend and it was amazing. I spiced the tomatoe puree up by using the canned diced tomatoes that have green peppers and onions in them. Then I blended them. Really the only other difference was I added italian seasoning to the puree along with the salt, pepper and olive oil. Needless to say, this dish brought a big smile.
After searching everywhere for the movie version of Ratatouille and we found your website. My 6yr old son & I made this last night. It was terrific! Its fun for a little boy to know the difference between zucchini, squash and eggplant. Thanks for a great website and wonderful inspiring pictures.
its nice that you think you made something first but, chef thomas keller has been serving this dish at his resturant the french laundrey for years he is also the chef the makers of the movie consulted when they were making the movie sorry
Loved the movie and will be trying this dish when the vegies start making their presentation. I enjoyed all of the above comments. The purpose of the parchment paper is to absorb the steam that would create the mush that ratatouille is know for. Thanks for that tidbit! Whoever discovered that.
My husband and I have been making his families recipe for ratatoulie for years. But until today, I never actually looked up recipes for it. I was astonished to see it is suppose to be a stew. Then I found this site and similar the person who posted this particular recipe, we have always made ours in layers in a casserole dish. We alternate layers of the vegitables but also add grated cheese(your choice, we use chedder aged 10 years). We usually end up with 3-5 layers of each vegitable and cheese. Then we top it with cheese and italian bread crumbs. Then Bake. I recommend reheating leftovers in a toaster oven not the microwave.
Made this last night! Used foil instead of parchment and cooked mine a little too long (more limp than I would have planned). Still delicious served over quinoa! Smitten Kitchen, without a doubt, is the one recipe source that never disappoints.
Ohh, this is such a delight. I will definitely make this recipe. This is my favorite movie to date.There are tears in my eyes right now. This is pure love. Thanks for this inspiration. Ohh, that there are people that exist in a world like mine. :)
My 13 year old daughter made us this dish for dinner tonight. She has never cooked before (other than Ramen or canned raviolis). But to my surprise the dish turned out GREAT. Never thought I would try a dish my 13 year old saw on a cartoon and would like it, what a surprise!!!!!
I just made it today,before i didnt like to cook well lets say not really often, after I watched the movie I started taking cooking seriously. And so I started browsing the internet how to make ratatouille and I found this. I like the smell and the taste is delicious.
Thanks really much for those who took their time to find this recipy it taste really good! :)
I tried this today and it was amazing! I just watched the movie last night and had the urge to make it. I served it appetizer style on top of sliced and toasted french bread and rubbed garlic on it. Absolutely delicious!
Oh, Heavenly! I just was coming here to see if you had something new (to me) that I could do with our CSA eggplant & these pictures have my mouth watering. I also, by chance, happen to have some Vt. Creamery Bonne Bouche in the fridge. Thank you for making my weekend!
When it came out it smelled divine. I told my wife I was going to eat a bite, with the yellow squash and zucchini, as I had to honor his effort. It was delicious and I had a full two servings. My wife was astonished to see me devour it. Not as much as I was. Awesome, tasty, well done.
I made this today just because I happened to have the right ingredients and needed to use them up. It was amazing! I never would have guessed it would taste like anything except, well, boring zucchini and eggplant.
We took it to a family dinner and served it as a side dish, expecting it to just be something else to add to the meal and use up some vegetables, and it ended up being by far the hit of the night. There was none left in the dish by the end of dinner.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POSTING THIS! I have tried to look for this since I watched the movie! How many people does it serve? I am having my parents over for dinner and I want to know whether the amounts are all right.
Thanks again :)
thank you for sharing this recipe. I ve been wanting to make this very dish for along time now. got the vegies last night and making it this late this afternoon for dinner. ill let you know how it comes out. thanks again!
Delicious! Every bit as delicious as it looks in the movie! I did 3 long rows in my 913 pan instead of circles and chopped cubes to cover the edge. Used normal eggplant, sliced and halved. Used aluminum foil instead of parchment to cover the top and it smelled amazing while baking.
hey listen you made it wrong this type of ratatouille is based off of the stew and it is baked a chef created this confit and he let the rat *remy* make it so if you look it up on youtube and find ONE that looks like your discription look at it it is supposed to be marinated overnight and cooked late at nightwith a combination of japanese eggplant yellow or butternut squash tomatoes onions garlic seasoning on the top *basil etc.* and bellpeppers it will be marinated over night after covering it for the almost entire cooking session and then you cool it off, cover it with ceran wrap and let it chill and marinate in the fridge overnight like i said for the 3ed time i know in the movie it was shorter but the juices has to mellow out and become one and once its finished marinating you pop it in the oven for 10-15 minutes then serve it on a platter with tomato sauce with balsamic and you drizzle it around the edges and you garnish it with a chive stem this should be a hint to were you should look and how you will know it is the correct video i am young about 11 but i am a cooking prodigy *stealing a line from ratatouille* ANYONE can cook! just take this advice and you and your friends will have the best ratatouille they EVER had! thx if you listen to my advice ^_^ :D
I followed your recipe to the letter with the exception of adding sliced roma tomatoes into the mix. Gave me another reason to break out the mandoline (borner) that I asked for and received last Christmas.
My three sons are always turning their noses up at eggplant and squash. When I told them I was making ratatouille, they were quite enthusiastic albeit skeptical when I told them what was in it. I piled it up on their plates like the movie and they gobbled it up declaring how delicious it was!!! One son added hot sauce and said it was even tastier! Thanks for a new way to feed my kids their vegetables!
c80f0f1006