Ratatouille’s Ratatouille

Ingredients:

1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
1 cup tomato puree (such as Pomi)
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 small eggplant
1 small zucchini
1 small yellow squash
1 red bell pepper
fresh thyme
Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. 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.
3. Trim the ends off the eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash. trim the ends off the red pepper and remove the core, leaving the edges intact, like a tube.
4. On a mandoline, adjustable-blade slicer or with a very sharp knife, cut the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and red pepper into very thin slices, approximately 1/16-inch thick.
5. Atop the tomato sauce, arrange slices of prepared vegetables concentrically from the outer edge to the inside of the baking dish, overlapping and alternating vegetables.
6. Drizzle the remaining tablespoon olive oil over the vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the fresh thyme over the dish.
7. Cover dish with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside the dish.
8. Bake for approximately 45 to 55 minutes, until vegetables have released their liquid and are clearly cooked, but still a bit firm. You should see the tomato sauce bubbling around them.

May be serve with soft goat cheese on top, alone, or with some crusty French bread…