Joie de Vivre: Easy Ratatouille Recipe (confit byaldi): Gluten free, and Vegan friendly dish!

Easy Recipe for Ratatouille (confit byaldi).

In 2007 the world fell in love with a tiny rat named Remy and his belief that anyone can cook. In case you’re wondering what I might be talking to I am referring to the Pixar animation Ratatouille. This movie is by far one of my favorites, mostly because it speaks the truth on the fact that anyone has the ability to cook good food. And that is exactly why I started this blog, to show you all how fun and easy it can be to learn to cook.

Ratatouille is a traditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish, originating in Nice. The full name of the dish is ratatouille niçoise. The version of ratatouille that I am making is based off of the movies take on ratatouille which was created by Chef Thomas Keller. This dish is actually called confit byaldi. This recipe has a delicious taste and will impress anyone who you serve it to. The best part is that it’s cheap and easy!

Ratatouille (confit byaldi) Recipe

This recipe will blow any guest away and might even make you think you can become a vegetarian after eating it. When I made it I ended up with two dishes full of Ratatouille and it only cost $11!

Ingredients

2 zuchinne Squash (can be both types but if you don't have a second option one type works)

1 Eggplant

1 Yellow Bell Pepper

1 Can of Tomato sauce

½ Onion fully chopped

1 tsp Fresh Thyme (or dried)

2 Garlic Cloves thinly chopped

2 tablespoons of Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

(Optional)

Parmesan cheese

Prep time: 30 Min

Cook time:45 min

Tools Needed:

Square or circular Baking Dish

Chef’s knife (or mandolin)

Parchment Paper

(optional)
Grater for garlic.

Steps:

1.) Take your dish and flip it over to draw an outline on your parchment paper. Cut the outline of the dish out of the parchment paper and make sure it fits inside the dish.

2.) Cut/slice all of your vegetables, cut as thin or as thick as you want your veggies. When I made this dish I sliced the vegetables a bit thicker as it was not going to be a side dish. The eggplant depending on its size can be sliced into circles then cut in half to make it closer to the size of the zucchini slices. When it came to finding a bell pepper that had a similar size to the zucchini I had a hard time so I decided to dice up the bell peppers to place them on top in this recipe. If you find small enough bell peppers feel free to layer them into the veggies.

3.) Once you have all of your vegetables sliced and ready to go dice up your onion and garlic. Make the garlic as thinly diced as you are able to, a great way to do this is to use a grater for the garlic, be careful not to cut you finger!

4.) Pour the tomato sauce into the bottom of the baking dish, the amount you pour depends on the dish. When I made it I make sure that there is about half an inch on the bottom of the dish.

5.) Mix in the garlic and onions with your tomato sauce, then add a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of pepper. When I made my Ratatouille I used garlic salt to give the dish an extra kick.

6.) Finally pour a teaspoon of olive oil into the tomato mixture and stir it up.

7.) Time to lay down your vegetables! Before you start decide what pattern you want to lay the veggies down. I normally decide to place eggplant first then zucchini and if I have two types of zucchini I place a bell pepper piece down and then the other zucchini.

8.) Keep this pattern going and go around the pan and continue going around until you are at the center of the pan.

9.) When all of your vegetables are laid out take another teaspoon of vegetable oil and pour that over the top. Then sprinkle with a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of pepper.

10.) Finally sprinkle a teaspoon of thyme on top of the dish.

11.) Use the Parchment paper that you cut out at the beginning to place on top of the finished dish

12.) Place Dish in the oven at 375 degrees F

13.) After 30 minutes take dish out and remove the parchment paper. Sprinkle desired amount of parmesan cheese and place dish back into oven for 15 minutes.