French Ratatouille Tian
Ok, so you’ve seen the Disney movie Ratatouille, have you? Well don’t get worried, we’re making a kid-friendly simplified version of Ratatouille using garden-fresh vegetables, just like they do in Nice, France where the dish originates. The key to this recipe is slicing the vegetables in consistent round slices.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1 small eggplant, thinly sliced
- 1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
- 3 roma tomatoes, thinly sliced in rounds
- 1 teaspoon dried Herbs de Provence
- Olive oil to drizzle over the dish
- Freshly ground black pepper, for seasoning
- Flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, for seasoning
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat the oven to 400 ̊F. Spread the onions and garlic, flat, along the bottom of a 5×7 baking pan sprayed with olive oil or cooking spray. Season with salt and pepper.
As you can see from photos, Ratatouille Tian has a distinctive pattern with alternating vegetables that are tightly packed, slightly overlapping one another throughout the dish. (Think of it like a row of toppled dominoes) You are welcome to try any pattern you like, just remember the key is lining everything up, and packing them pretty tightly.
Once you have placed all the vegetables, drizzle olive oil over the top, then sprinkle with your Herbs de Provence. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.
After the first round of baking, remove the foil, drizzle with more olive oil, and bake uncovered for an additional 20-30 minutes until the vegetables appear to be cooked through. Serve at room temperature.
Note: If you don’t have Herbs de Provence, you are welcome to make your own using my recipe here. Or, you can simply get by with using a dash each of dried rosemary, dried thyme, dried basil and dried oregano.
Nice, France
The city is located on a beautiful bay on the French Riviera, 20 miles from the Italian border. The city is surrounded by beautiful hills, has a beautiful climate, and is one of the most popular tourist cities in the south of France.
