ratatouille

Adam and I get a kick out of the movie "Ratatouille" (Lauren, give it back!) so when I came across a recipe for it, I of course had to try it out. I made this last winter. I'd make some alterations to the quantities because this made A LOT. It took us almost a week to eat it all, and we were totally sick of it by the end. So either invite someone to dinner when you have this, or cut the quantities.

The thing that takes the longest is the chopping. Once everything was cooking, it went pretty fast.

Chop up the following ingredients:
1 medium onion (small dice)
1 garlic clove
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 medium eggplant
2 zucchini (thin slices)

6 to 8 potatoes in bite-size pieces - boil separately from all other ingredients until soft, drain, set aside.

Start cooking the onion, garlic, and bell peppers in a (very) large skillet or saucepan.

Add to saucepan:
2 14-oz cans of chopped tomatoes - do not drain,
1 can tomato paste
salt and pepper
parsley, thyme, oregano, savory - no measurements on the herbs, do according to taste (or smell).

Cook this COVERED for 5 minutes, stir, cook covered for another 5 minutes.

Add the eggplant and zucchini and cook for another 10 minutes, this time UNcovered, until the vegetables are soft the way you like them. Shorten the time a little if you like them more firm.

Once everything is cooked, put the mixed vegetables in a big flat baking dish. Put the potatoes in a layer on top, then put cheese over the top.

Put under the broiler for about 5 minutes, until the cheese is melted.

If you want, you can add chives over the very top after it comes out of the broiler.

I know things get added in a random sequence, so let me know if any of this was not clear. Like I said, use very large dishes with this. The thing that takes the most time is the chopping. Once it's all cooking, it goes very fast.