Ratatouille (à la grecque)

Dear diary,

we've all seen the kids movie Ratatouille, correct? 

Whaaaat? You haven't? 

Please do and I guarantee you'll enjoy it very much, and you'll adore this tiny determined rat, Remy! His specialty.... ratatouille! The finesse vegetables, so nicely arranged into the pan, "sitting" on a delicate tomato sauce... While watching the movie you feel like the smells are surrounding you and your stomach starts growling...

When I saw the movie I started thinking if I've seen this dish in real life.
In Greek cuisine we have briam, vegetables in tomato sauce cooked in the oven, which I'm pretty sure it comes from the Turkish cuisine.

And I also know that Ratatouille in French is almost the same with briam.

But this particular version, with the vegetables in order, making a circle in the pan was something I really admired Remy for!

With Remy being my sous-chef, I present you.... Ratatouille!

Here's what I did to reproduce this fantastic (literally), comic-invented dish!

Ingredients (for a large pan, making 5+ servings)

• 3 cups tomato sauce (I used Pomi)
• 3 Tbsp fresh green onion (chopped)
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 2 medium eggplants
• 3 green zucchinis
• 3 yellow squashes (same shape with the zucchinis, only yellow)
• 2 large tomatoes
• 1 red pepper
• olive oil (~20ml)
• fresh thyme or oregano
• salt and pepper

All vegetables, the eggplant, squash, zucchini, tomato and pepper should be slides in very thin rounds.

Step 1: In the pan I first added the tomato sauce and the chopped the green onion. I made sure the sauce covered all the pan.

Step 2: Starting from the sides of the pan and trying to make a spiral that ends in the center, I arranged the vegetables slices one by one: eggplant, yellow squash, zucchini, tomato, pepper, eggplant ... etc

Step 3: I sprinkled over the vegetables with the garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh thyme.

Step 4: I covered the pan with its lid and put in preheated 375F (190C) oven for 30 minutes. Then I uncovered the pan, lowered the temperature at 355F (180C) and continued baking the vegetables for 10 more minutes.

Don't forget I'm a greek girl so I really had to give a feta-twist to the dish! I just sprinkled some feta cheese on top of the veggies when I served them on the plate and to me it was the perfect complement.

Hope you enjoyed it! Until later...

Yours,
Jennoula