Ratatouille with a Stainless Steel Commercial Mandoline and Natural Serving Platters

by Diana

I’m a huge fan of the cooking TV show Top Chef, DC . This season, one of the most common judge complaints stem from food that had been unevenly cut, thus cooking the food at different rates. An important kitchen tool called a mandoline can ensure even cooking time for cut fruits and vegetables. Get a stainless steel commercial mandoline —it’ll be easier to clean and much safer to use than any old cheapie mandolin. The quintessential recipe to test out your new stainless steel commercial grade mandolin would be Ratatouille ! I will admit, until Disney’s culinary rat Remy came into town, I had no idea what Ratatouille was and now, thanks to Smitten Kitchen , she’s taken this movie fantasy dish and turned it into a reality using her very own trusty mandolin.

Smitten Kitchen Ratatouille

Ratatouille’s Ratatouille As envisioned by Smitten Kitchen

1/2 onion, finely chopped, 2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced, 1 cup tomato puree (such as Pomi), 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 small eggplant (my store sells these “Italian Eggplant” that are less than half the size of regular ones; it worked perfectly),1 smallish zucchini, 1 smallish yellow squash, 1 longish red bell pepper, Few sprigs fresh thyme, Salt and pepper, Few tablespoons soft goat cheese, for serving.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

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.

Trim the ends off the eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash. As carefully as you can, trim the ends off the red pepper and remove the core, leaving the edges intact, like a tube.

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.

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.

Cover dish with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside. (Tricky, I know, but the hardest thing about this.)

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.

Serve with a dab of soft goat cheese on top, alone, or with some crusty French bread, atop polenta, couscous, or your choice of grain.

Smitten Kitchen Ratatouille 2

Tablescapes are an important part of any party involving good eats; and the serving platters are sometimes just as important as the food you’re serving. Apartment Therapy did a recent post on natural tablescapes with natural wood serving platters and beautiful flowers to boot, and I feel like there’s nothing prettier than simple, natural items. Crate and Barrel carries one that looks just like the image below.

Apartment Therapy Wood Serving Platter