Yve Eats: Ratatouille

I'm a fan of Disney and Pixar but that's not news. I mean, who isn't? While that's pretty much common knowledge, something you might not know is that there are two Pixar movies tied at number one for my favorite. I managed to combine both of them into one delicious dinner that was pretty much made for summer. This meal has been a long time coming and I've already made it again after my first go at it! I know you've been wanting to try this dish as much as I have so let's get to it!

I have been eyeing ratatouille since 2007 when the film was released. I didn't quite understand what it was, but it's the namesake of my favorite Pixar movie. I couldn't not be interested. Later, I started looking into what it was and learned it's a stewed vegetable dish. The traditional way of making it is chopped up veg in a pot, but many of the most popular recipes right now mimic the look from the film with sliced vegetables arranged in a colorful, eye-catching pattern. Of course this is the style Mikaela and I went with.

Having perused Pinterest, we decided to follow this recipe by A Clean Bake. We followed the recipe exactly when it came to the sauce (actually that's not entirely true since we used some petite diced tomatoes we had on hand rather than crushed tomatoes) but took some liberties with the vegetables. Since we decided to double the recipe, it only made sense to buy double the ingredients, right? Not quite. There was actually (a little more than) enough of the sliced up veggies left over for a whole second batch of ratatouille, but more on that in a minute.

The sauce was darker than antipated.

When we cut the eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini, and onions, we leaned towards a thicker slice because veggies wilt a bit when they're cooked and we wanted a little something to chew on. The first batch was very pretty because there was plenty of sizes to work with. Mikaela was in charge of arranging the vegetables and it turned out beautifully. The sauce was a little bit intimidating when we saw how dark it was turning out but a tiny taste was all it took to win me over. That herbs de Provence spice mix is something else. (It has lavender in it!) 

Ready for an hour in the oven!

The day I went out to purchase the veggies, a thought occurred to me. What do you eat ratatouille with? It certainly wouldn't be filling enough on its own. I turned to my trusted friend, Google, to find my answer. Turns out there are tons of ways to eat it, especially if ratatouille isn't the main event. For our purposes (aka letting the ratatouille be the star) we opted for quinoa (one cup water to one cup qunioa) and a baguette (from Fred Meyer) so that we would have some options. There was also some chicken thighs (from Costco aka my forever bae) on the side for protein if anyone wanted it. In hindsight I probably could've used a bigger plate to accommodate both the ratatouille and the chicken but then it wouldn't be a Disney plate so I stand by my decision. 

A sight to behold.

As we cooked, we played Ratatouille in the background and the French-inspired score really set the mood for the dinner we had cooking. That plus the heavenly smell emanating from the oven had me bouncing around with giddiness. This was, after all, the first full meal I've ever cooked. I certainly didn't do it alone, but there's just something about not having help from your mom that makes it feel legit. 

It's been pretty well established by now that one of my top favorite Pixar movies is Ratatouille, but what's the other one? The answer to that question would have to be The Incredibles. Even back in the day I was in love with superhero movies. You're probably wondering, what does this have to do with anything? Well here's the part where I get even more excited. I got an Incredibles mug for Christmas a few years ago and one of the scenes that stuck out to me when I first watched the movie was when Mr. Incredible was flying the the island and his aircraft asked him if he would care for more mimosa. I didn't know what it was at the time (I thought it was juice) but the word "mimosa" was too much fun for me to ignore. Turns out it's something that I've been drinking all my life! Well, the mocktail version of it anyway. I don't drink so instead of having equal parts champagne and orange juice, I mixed sparkling water and orange juice in the same amounts for a virgin mimosa. I don't drink soda either so this is as close as I can get. This was the perfect opportunity for me to break out that mug and create a meal that isn't absolutely unique to me, but pretty darn close. I mean, how often do you cook something inspired by a movie?

Ready to dig in!

As I mentioned earlier, I thought I was doubling this recipe when in reality I had actually quadrupled it. It all depends on the size of the vegetables you get, but the fact that there was 300% more ratatouille is kinda ridiculous. I mean, A Clean Bake included approximations in cups but that's hard to estimate when you're looking at an eggplant as is. Thank goodness this recipe turned out delicious or I would've had a lot of sliced vegetables to get through. If you're happy to make two batches, you could always double what A Clean Bake has given you but keep in mind you're going to have to double everything that goes into the sauce once more for the second batch.

Here's the recipe with my revisions:

rata-tata (x)

Ratatouille 

Serves: 4-6 people

Ingredients: 

2 cups (16 oz) crushed tomatoes (we substituted petite diced tomatoes) 

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 tsp minced garlic

2 Tbsp dried basil

2 tsp herbs de Provence spice mix

1/2 tsp each salt, pepper, chili powder

1 medium sweet or red onion, sliced

1 large zucchini, sliced

1 large Chinese eggplant, sliced

4 Roma tomatoes, sliced

Instructions: 

1. Preheat your oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 baking dish and set aside.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the crushed (or petite diced) tomatoes, oil, and vinegar. Stir in the garlic, basil, herbs de Provence, salt, pepper, and chili powder.
3. Pour the tomato mixture into the prepared baking dish and smooth it into an even layer on the bottom of the pan.
4. Stack the veggie sliced in an alternating pattern and place them on their side in the pan, leaning against the edge of the pan. Repeat until you've formed a couple rows and have used up all the veggie slices.
5. Optionally, spray or brush the exposed tops of the veggies with oil to encourage browning in the oven.
6. Bake for an hour until the tomato sauce at the bottom is bubbling and the veggies are tender.

What do you think of this recipe? It's so easy to make that I even managed it on my own the second time around! Granted all the veggies (besides the onion) was already sliced up, but that part wasn't difficult either. It probably saved me like ten minutes. If I, the biggest newbie in the kitchen, can successfully make this recipe, you can too. Please let me know if you try it out and how it works out for you! Next time I want to see if I can fit some squash in there. That sounds delicious. I imagine you could include or substitute any vegetable of similar shape in there. I'm excited to get cooking this summer and leave some suggestions for future dishes Mikaela and I should try out!


Talk to you soon!

xo, Yvette