World Cuisines: Our Ratatouille (France)

This is our take on the traditional dish. We admit that we got the inspiration from the cutest movie rat you'll ever see with a passion for cooking. This is a bit different than traditional ratatouille, but we've made this several times and tweaked it to our liking. It's amazing.

Ingredients:

- 1 cup basic tomato sauce (make you own or use jarred sauce if you want)
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 2 medium size eggplants
- 4 bell peppers (can be multicolored)
- 3 zucchinis
-  6 medium tomatoes
- 4 white onions (red/yellow is ok too)
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- salt to taste
- freshly ground pepper to taste
- pinch of dried or fresh thyme
- pinch of crushed red pepper (optional)
Please note: All vegetable amounts are approximate. You need enough of each to eventually fill the pan tightly, so err on the side of more rather than less.

Preparation:
- When purchasing vegetables, try to match the sizes of each different vegetable as much as possible (e.g. thin eggplant, average zucchini, small onions and tomatoes, etc.)
- Prepare a baking dish 8 by 10 inches or similar size.
- Begin by spreading tomato sauce evenly on the baking dish. Sprinkle with garlic, salt and pepper. 
- Using a mandoline or a sharp knife, cut all the vegetables thinly. 
- Preheat the oven to 375 F.
- On the top of sauce arrange vegetables in a pattern, alternating eggplant, tomato, onion, bell pepper, zucchini as regularly as possible.
- When one row is finished, start a new row (as in photograph ) or curve at the corner. 

- When arrange, sprinkle with olive oil, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper and thyme. For extra heat, use cayenne pepper as well.
- Cover with foil for about 45-50 minutes until tender/soft. Remove foil and cook for another 5-10 minutes.
- Remove any French Disney rats which may have accumulated and serve. Haha :)
- Serve immediately.

Serves 6-8 people (or 50-60 rodents - haha).