VERTICAL RATATOUILLE

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This is a fantastic way to get vegetables that taste great and look brilliant. Apparently it is the style of ratatouille made in the movie Ratatouille.

INGREDIENTS

BASE SAUCE

• 1 can crushed tomatoes
• 1 tbs minced garlic
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tbs dried parsley or more if fresh
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• Salt to taste
• A few grinds of black pepper
• 1/4 tsp chili flakes
• A few capsicum, red or green or both, chopped
• 1 or 2 mild long chilis, seeded and finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp Vegetta or vegetable stock powder
• 1 tsp sugar

SIMPLE Béchamel

• 1 tbs butter
• 1 tbs flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• Seasoning to taste

SLICED VEGETABLES

This part is pretty flexible but the eggplant and zucchini are essential. They should be sliced finely and evenly – a mandolin slicer is brilliant here, and very fast.
• 3 large long reasonably thin zucchini sliced
• 3 lady finger eggplant sliced
• Some type of carb (optional) – sweet potato, potato, carrot, whatever is in the garden or fridge, peeled (if necessary), cooked till just tender in a microwave, cooled and sliced
• Other options could include capsicum and/or onions.

METHOD

• This is quite quick to put together so preheat oven to 180°C.
• Prepare 20cm x 30cm baking dish or 2 15cm x 25cm dishes – use something that you can serve from.
• Into the baking dish add the tinned tomatoes, garlic, sugar, Vegetta, herbs, dried chillis, salt, pepper and stir together, taste, add seasoning if necessary and smooth out the top a little.
• Spread the finely chopped capsicum and chillis evenly over the tomato mix.

Make Bechamel

(look for a video on making Bechamel – there is a bit of an art. If it messes up a stick mixer can solve a lot of problems)

• Melt the butter on a low heat in a sauté pan, remove from the heat and stir in the flour, ensuring there are no lumps,
• Gradually add milk in small portions, stirring between additions to ensure there are no lumps, return to the heat and continue stirring until it has thickened. It should not taste at all floury. Add nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. Add extra milk if necessary. It should be runny enough to spread but thick enough to hold its own.
• Spread fairly evenly over the chopped capsicum/chilli

Vegetables

• Alternate the vegetable slices into stacks. (e.g.: onion, zucchini, eggplant, potato; repeat) and place them on their side in the dish, pushing down into the base mix. Stack the rows fairly tightly.
• Repeat until the dish is filled. If the vegetables are too big slice in half and stack flat side down.
• Optionally, spray or brush the exposed tops of the veggies with oil to encourage browning in the oven. This is more for appearance, so feel free to skip this step if you want.
• Bake for about an hour, until the tomato sauce at the bottom is bubbling and the veggies are tender.
• Garnish with additional chopped fresh basil before serving (optional). Serve hot or cold.