August 25 - Ratatouille for the Kids

Ratatouille is one my kids' favorite movies. It's about a rat improvising these seemingly delicious dishes. Of course, the kids wonder if that ratatouille tasted really good just as the food critic claimed it to be.

In my first attempt to prepare ratatouille, it looked good but tasted dry. I hesitated to include eggplants since my kids, at that time, were not familiar with it.


This time, my dish was warmly welcomed (and consumed) by my kids. Yes, I included the eggplant, which added the toasty taste of the dish. I made a good tomato sauce as a base for my ratatouille, which the kids liked as well.

Ratatouille



Ingredients
For the sauce:
1 small can of tomato paste
1 cup water
1 large sweet onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp salt
pepper
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tsp fresh basil, chopped
1 tsp fresh oregano leaves
1/4 cup olive oil

For the vegetables:
2 green zucchini, thinly sliced
1 Italian eggplant, cut lengthwise in 4 portions and thinly sliced
8 red plum tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced



Cooking Time (70 minutes)
Heat the olive oil in a wok.
Saute the garlic, then the onion.
Add the tomato paste, 1 cup water, thyme, basil, oregano, salt and pepper.
Let it cook for 30 minutes in low heat.
Carefully blend the sauce into a puree.
Pour the tomato sauce in a large baking pan.
Arrange the zucchini, eggplant and tomato alternately in a single layer.
Place the thin slices of green bell pepper on top.
Cover the pan with a parchment paper.
Bake the ratatouille for 40 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit.