Ratatouille

Oh no, I am not going to comment on the Disney-Pixar movie by the same name. That said if you followed the movie to the end, you remember that Remy cooked Ratatouille to impress Anto Ego, the famous food critic. Here is your chance to impress your family with this easy recipe of ratatouille.Ratatouille is a great dish to make because you can serve it vegetarian (with couscous, rice or polenta for instance), as a side dish with meat (chicken, pork) or with fish (white fish or tuna). You can even eat it cold....

I tend to make ratatouille about twice a month because my home-made version is easy-to-make. For the sake of daily cooking, I don't cook the vegetables in separate pots and I don't layer it. I also use a jar-based tomato sauce to add more liquid and flavor to the dish. It might be "cheating" with the original recipe but I have to say that it does taste better and it passed my family test! Bon Appétit!

Ingredients

- 1 onion minced
- 1 clove of garlic minced
- 2 zucchinis
- 1 small eggplant
- 1 small Red and/or green/yellow bell pepper minced
- 1.5 cup of tomato sauce (eg: Basil tomato sauce)
- Thyme, oregano, or Herbes de Provence
- Olive oil, salt and fresh black pepper.

• In a large saute pan (with lid) , saute the onion and garlic in olive oil.
• Add the bell peppers and saute some more
  
• Add the zucchinis and eggplant and saute some more until they are all coated with oil.
  
• Add the tomatoes and the fresh thyme/oregano or Herbes de Provence
  
• Add the tomato sauce 
• Put lid on and cook on low for about 20 minutes, until all vegetables are cooked
  
• Add salt and pepper to taste
  

My personal comments:

• I generally use frozen bell peppers. I found a mix of green, yellow and orange bell peppers which I always have in the freezer if I don't have fresh pepper (or don't feel like slicing one that day!)
• I NEVER use canned tomato or tomato puree. I don't like the taste and texture. I prefer using a processed tomato sauce with basil or other herbs. I avoid the marinara sauces that tend to have cheese in them and I try to find a sauce with low sodium.
• I never peel the vegetables because I think that the dish looks nicer with the purple, greens and other colors of the vegetables
  
• You could add mushrooms if you had some in your fridge that needed to be used.
• I use a pressure cooker to cook this dish. It cooks in less than 10 minutes.
• If there is too much liquid at the end, take the lid off and let it cook for another 5 minutes or scoop the extra liquid out.
• If you make a lot, you can freeze it in a container.