D.D.'s Ratatouille
a combination of all sorts of recipes... bits from Jose Andres, Thomas Keller, Smitten Kitchen, Pixar, and some bits from nowhere.
1) make sofrito, fairly thick and reduced, add finely chopped roasted red peppers in addition to regular recipe
2) cover bottom of pan with sofrito, a little less than 1cm thick
3) layer sliced zucchini, squash, roma tomatoes, and egglplant. use a pattern that contrasts colors, and repeat tomato more often than others (zucchini, squash and eggplant have similar creamy texture and taste, need to balance that out with more tomato. I did squash, tomato, eggplant, zucchini, tomato... repeat) I do a fairly tight layering, also end up stuffing more veggies in after I first finish layering, at the end and in between trying to fit more in (like trying to slide books into a crowded bookshelf). I always end up with extra vegetables.
4) crush a lot of thyme, a clove of garlic with a small pinch of salt in the mortar and pestle, make a rough paste, mix with a lot of olive oil. drizzle generously on layered vegetables
5) sprinkle salt and pepper on veggies, add more thyme and garlic to taste. (can hold back on the garlic, but this thing can use a lot of thyme.)
6) cover with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 275F and bake. test after 45 minutes to see if veggies are tender, will probably take a little longer. (really don't remember how long it took for me).
7) Optional... but really good: Make a vinaigrette beforehand: In a bottle/jar with cap add 50% olive oil, 50% vinegar (rice or sherry), put some crushed thyme and or rosemary, shake vigorously, let sit a few hours to a few days. Shake again just before serving to emulsify again.
Serving: use a large flat spoon, scoop out a short "line" of sliced veggies, no need to cut, carefully transfer to plate, nice in a straight line, or turn spoon slightly as you plate to make a fan/arc shape. brush a few drops of the vinaigrette on the veggies (dip a small spoon in the vinaigrette, don't even scoop, just dip to coat the spoon, and brush the back of the spoon over the veggies. it's pretty strong stuff, barely need any.) add few leaf of thyme or sprigs of chives for garnish, or not, simple is best.
As for the sofrito, I just served a spoonful next to the veggies, but have been thinking about how to do this better. A) can put some sofrito on the plate first, then put veggies on top. or B) after veggies are plated, take the sofrito from the pan and puree using hand blender, make a smooth sauce, may or maybe not thin out with a bit of olive oil, drizzle sauce in a line or arc on the plate next to the veggies. Check out how they do it in the movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
