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rainbow ratatouille

ratatoullie

Ratatatouille has always been a favorite dish of mine (and I enjoy pronouncing it with my best French accent)–but honestly, I consider it a bit of a pain in the you know where to prepare. I have terrible luck with mandolines, and usually not nearly enough patience to use my chef’s knife to thinly cut a ton of veggies for dinnertime, I usually just find myself opting for another meal instead. And this is unfortunate, because to my tastebuds, ratatouille is really, really good. The way the eggplant, peppers, and zucchini merge into one deliciously fragrant explosion of flavor is quite crave-worthy.

But the prep. Ugh the prep. Last year I practically sliced off one of my fingers using a mandoline, so I haven’t been enthusiastic about picking mine up again ever since–even though I bought (and now use!) a pair of those fancy finger saving gloves. And, with two hungry kids and a hardworking husband, slicing the veggies by hand is daunting, and the finished presentation alone is just not enough to convince me to tackle the elaborate dish when I could just throw all the veggies (diced) in a pot and call it stew. Many times, I just gotta draw the line for practical family friendly meal prep–especially after I’ve been cooking all day–and, stew is less fussy. So I haven’t made ratatouille for dinner in a while.

Until recently, after KitchenAid (the maker of my most favorite standmixer ever) gifted me with a powerhouse machine that easily tackles ratatoullie and so much more * . It comes with a blade that slices veggies from thin to thick and a 3 in 1 ultra wide mouth opening for super fast and beautifully even vegetables. Oh yes. I love this thing.

kitchenaid food processor 2

I’ve owned and adored 2 kitchenaid food processors in my lifetime, and this is the best yet. I’m pretty sure it’s my new favorite toy. Or, I may even go as far as to say it’s my new best friend. The KitchenAid ExactSlice Food Processor is a 13 cup monster that is capable of making an entire meal with never having to clean the machine between steps (which makes end cleanup a breeze because you can just soak all the parts after you are finished) because it features a 13 cup bowl as well as a small insert bowl for small jobs like finishing sauces or pesto.

kitchenaid-food-processor-

My favorite feature of this machine is its ability to control the thickness of the slices, just as if you were cutting vegetables by hand–except they are flawlessly even and I was able to slice a 12 inch Japanese eggplant in 2.3 seconds flat.

I had all the veggies for this ratataoullie sliced so fast I wasn’t even thinking about the sauce yet. Lucky I had roasted the tomatoes and garlic bulb the day before–so I just inserted the smaller bowl and went to work on the sauce, which was done equally as fast as the veggies. Before I knew it I was creating a beautiful spiral of rainbow colored vegetables and garnishing them with fresh thyme and oregano. 1 hour later, fini Ratatouille.

While the dish cooked, I rinsed the small bowl and made some Tuscan Style White Bean Dip and enjoyed it with the leftover chopped veggies that didn’t make it into the food art. Ah, la belle vie.

ratatouille-process

How it’s done:

Rainbow Ratatouille 

  • 2 medium sized tomatoes, greens removed
  • 1 bulb garlic, tip cut off to expose cloves on top
  • 1 Japanese eggplant
  • 1 yellow zucchini (unpeeled)
  • 1 green zucchini (unpeeled)
  • 1 long red pepper, de-seeded
  • 1 very large carrot
  • 2 heaping tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil + additional for drizzling
  • 2 tablespoons leaves fresh thyme
  • 1 tablespoon leaves oregano
  • Fresh cracked black pepper
  • Dash smoked salt

Preheat your oven to 400 °F. Roast the tomatoes and garlic bulb (drizzled with a touch of olive oil) for 45 minutes to 60 minutes, or until skins on tomatoes are very wrinkly and darkened, and the garlic is caramelized and fragrant. Remove from the oven, let cool and then remove skins from the tomatoes and the roasted garlic cloves from the bulb.

Decrease your oven temp to 375 °F. Slice the eggplant, zucchini, red pepper, and carrot into even slices, about 1/6 to 1/4 of an inch thick.

In a food processor, blend the roasted tomatoes and garlic along with the tomato paste, sea salt and 2 tablespoons olive oil until very smooth. Spread 3/4 of the sauce into the bottom of a lightly oiled ceramic oven safe dish. Arrange the sliced vegetables into a spiral ring, alternating the colors to create an eye-catching pattern. Drizzle with olive oil (about 1 1/2 tablespoons) and the remainder of the sauce. Top with fresh thyme, oregano, black pepper and smoked salt.

Top with a layer of parchment paper to cover and bake in preheated oven for 55 minutes. Let cool and then serve alone or on a bed of mashed potatoes, quinoa, forbidden rice, or your favorite grain.

* KitchenAid provided me with the ExactSlice Food Processor, but the opinions about the product are all mine. I seriously do love this machine. 

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29 Responses to rainbow ratatouille

  1. Janelle says:

    Thank you so much for this recipe. I am French and was yet to find a good Ratatouille recipe, but this it! It’s easy and looks so pretty! Huge hit at potlucks and large family events!

  2. leila fakhoury says:

    OMG I am definitely going to make this for dinner tonight. It looks so delicious.

  3. Rachel says:

    Uhm hello wonderful and delicious tomato sauce. I fed this to my grandparents that I’m taking care of and they fell in love with the sauce. They’re Italians too! I and my grandparents happy tummies thank you so much!

  4. Claire says:

    Hello

    I can’t wait to try your recipe, it looks yummy!

    Could you please tell me how many this will serve?

    Thanks! X

  5. I have the same KitchenAid food processor and love the adjustable slicer. It’s awesome! Great recipe, too. Thanks for sharing!

  6. Barbara Hayes says:

    Love the idea of the slices in the casserole rather than chunks. But do the carrots cook all the way through? Did you slice them thinner than the squash? I’m still using the fingerprint-removing mandolin, but I’ll take the risk for this dish.

  7. […] Rainbow Ratatouille served with garlic […]

  8. Sarah says:

    Eating this as I type! This is my very first day going vegan, and your blog has inspired me so much. This ratatouille is so delicious! Thank you!!

    • allyson says:

      Hi Sarah,

      This is absolutely wonderful. Thank you so much for letting me know and good luck with your culinary journey!! xoxo
      <3 allyson

  9. tammigirl says:

    It’s lovely! I am in the market for a new food processor. Mine has cracked and while it still works I know one day it will just magically crack too much and not work. I wish they made them with glass bowls. We need a big one like this because even on a regular day there are seven of us. I’ll keep this one in mind, for certain.

    And your ratatouille looks lovely!

  10. […] Manifest Vegan shared Rainbow Ratatouille […]

  11. […] have not had brilliant luck making ratatouille (I’ve hated every attempt), but this one is not only so pretty, but doesn’t look mushy.  I hate mushy zucchini, and that usually […]

  12. This is gorgeous! I’ve only ever made ratatouille once and it was much more stew-like with chunks of veggies.

  13. Alexandra says:

    I have a slicing blade like this and I never use it! I don’t know why- these vegetables look gorgeous and it’s so much easier than using a mandolin. Will have to try this one!

  14. Maria Tadic says:

    I made this dish for my inlaws this past weekend!! I love ratatouille…but have never made it look as pretty as yours! I always just chunk up all the veggies and make more of a stew…I’m definitely going to try your version next time I make it!

  15. Emma says:

    It looks exactly that the fancy ratatouille in the film! I make a more rustic ratatouille frequently but this is a real show-stopper.

  16. Malki Zee says:

    It looks amazing, definitely going to try it. Do you roast the garlic with the skin on?

    • allyson says:

      Yep, just cut the tips off the entire bulb to expose the tips of the individual coves and place the uncut side flat against the pan. :)

  17. Vegyogini says:

    It’s always interesting for me to see delicately sliced and arranged ratatouille a la the Pixar film because true French ratatouille, as far as I know, is a stew with the veggies cut into a fairly large dice. I’m fascinated that the Pixar film was able to transform a more-or-less country dish into a fancy plated affair. Yours is beautiful! Also, I would love a new food processor and your KitchenAid is gorgeous! Maybe they’ll send me one to test, as well…? ;)

    • allyson says:

      You know, even though I’ve seen the movie, and was aware the original dish was prepared much more rustically, I had no idea this particular preparation came from the Pixar film! Pretty cool! :)

  18. This looks delicious! As much as I love veggies (and the movie Ratatouille), I can’t believe I’ve never made ratatouille before. Thanks for providing this inspiration!

  19. This looks so good! My pops used to make ratatouille when we were kids, and I haven’t had it in years!

  20. Oh my! lucky you! I love the first photo all piled up, but then the one in the oval dish is so pretty as well – I cant decide…. I am now drooling with the thought of ratatouille.

  21. The same thing happened to me with my mandoline—those things are monsters hungry for human flesh!

    Your ratatouille looks so good and puts me in mind of summer…never a bad thing in mid-February. :)

  22. Lisa says:

    What GORGEOUS photos!