Ratatouille

This was a fun experiment for me given that I've never actually had ratatouille, despite the fact that the Pixar film of the same name is one of my favorite movies.

I wasn't awestruck by it (in part because of the inclusion of eggplant, which I hate, and keep trying because so many people whose taste I respect claim it is good) but it was very tasty, and remarkably healthy (basically all of the calories in the entire dish are from the olive oil.)

Rebecca found the herbed oil in the bottom of the dish to be a great dipping sauce for fresh bread, and Sydney enjoyed a record amount of participation in the making of it - she chopped zucchini and peppers, helped peel garlic cloves, and then pitched in on the final assembly.

Hardware:
Massive casserole dish (a normal 9x13 pyrex will not be big enough)
Massive mixing bowl
Good sharp chef's knife (you will be doing a LOT of chopping)

Software:
4-6 medium zucchini squash, salted and rinsed, cut into bite sized pieces
1 medium eggplant, salted and rinsed, cut into bite sized pieces
4 red bell peppers, seeded and cored, cut into bite sized pieces
4 plum tomatoes, diced (canned is fine)
2 medium onions, sliced
10 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup good extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon each dried thyme, rosemary, and basil
salt and pepper to taste

Assembly:
Prep all the vegetables and toss into your giant mixing bowl. Add the herbs, a good dose of salt and pepper, the oil and vinegar, and toss to combine. Move to your giant casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 30 minutes (approximately) stirring occasionally. Let rest ten minutes and serve with additional salt, pepper, and vinegar to taste.

Goes great with a hot loaf of homemade bread to sop up the herby oil.

Pro Tips:
Next time i will probably omit the eggplant entirely and add extra zucchini, or maybe some thinly sliced carrots.

If you do use eggplant, make sure to liberally dose with kosher salt and let sit in a colander for 45 minutes to an hour, then rinse and pat dry. You can do something similar to the zucchini although it's not as necessary (and doesn't take as long.)

Update 3/15/2012:  I made this recipe again with the following changes:  omitted the eggplant, added yellow squash, crushed half the garlic, and used fresh thyme and basil.  It was both MUCH tastier and much 'drier' which added to the roasty flavor, I'm sure.  My campaign against the enemy of good eats, Eggplant, continues!