Baked Ratatouille (a simplified Confit Byaldi)

A simplification of the Confit Byaldi recipe developed by Thomas Keller while serving as a consultant on the animated film "Ratatouille".

Yield
8 servings
Source

Thomas Keller developed the original recipe

Ingredients

1 medium onion, diced
1/2 cup diced peppers (red, orange, yellow, green if you like)
2 tablespoons butter
salt and pepper to taste
(Optional: 1 clove garlic)

2 small eggplants (the Japanese variety work well)
2 small zucchini
2 small yellow summer squash
(Ideally all of the above should be about the same diameter)

3-4 small peppers (red, yellow and orange, green pepper is optional)
2-4 firm tomatoes (Roma tomatoes are more likely to be about the same diameter as the other vegetables, if you want to come closer to Thomas Keller's version of the dish.)

2 teaspoons chopped parsley
1 teaspoon thyme

1 1/2 cups tomato sauce
Instructions

Wash the vegetables. Peeling is optional, my wife prefers the squash, zucchini and eggplant to be peeled, Slice the eggplant, zucchini and summer squash fairly thinly, core and slice the peppers into rings, dicing the tops and bottoms. Place the sliced vegetables on paper towels to drain. (You can sprinkle salt on them to sweat out more of the moisture, this will make the resulting dish less watery, but be sure to wipe them off afterwards or the dish may be overly salty.)

Slice the tomatoes thinly, let drain on paper towel.

Sautee the onions, diced peppers and garlic (if using) in the butter to make a piperade, add half of the tomato sauce when the onions are nearly transparent. Salt and pepper to taste, then cook for a few minutes longer.

Spread the piperade in a 9 x 12 glass baking dish. Layer the vegetables on top of the piperade. (Thomas Keller builds rows of alternating vegetables, I just put them in somewhat randomly.)

Sprinkle the parsley and thyme over the vegetables, then pour on the rest of the tomato sauce.

Cover with parchment and bake in a 375 degree oven for 50-60 minutes.

Makes an excellent side dish with chicken.