Ratatouille

About a month ago I joined a local CSA (community supported Agriculture) for the fall season.  Well, Tuesday was my first day to get a shipment of veggies.  I got a red pepper, a pipian squash, and an eggplant. So, I decided to use them to make Ratatouille.  I looked at a couple of recipes for ratatouille and decided to mostly follow the one I found on smitten kitchen because it looked like the ratatouille from the movie.  I also looked at the ratatouille recipes on allrecipes.com, and took the addition of parmesan cheese from there.
I served this over a new red rice I saw at the fiesta and decided to try.  It was a good rice.  I think the overall presentation of the meal would have looked better on a lighter colored rice, but the flavor was great.  I also must say that the pipian squash was good.  Sadly I'm not sure when I'll see another one of those, but I have the left overs in the freezer.
And the verdict - my older boys loved this.  I currently have a second batch in the oven - which makes me happy because it gave me something to do with the other veggies I had sitting there.  On this one I put way less pepper in the tomato sauce on the bottom, and added Thyme and a dash of Italian seasoning and olive oil to the tomato sauce as well.  (However I forgot the sprinkling of olive oil on the top.)  I also liked the dish - other than I thought the tomato sauce was too peppery and not flavorful enough (hence the added ingredients in batch 2.)  I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that I liked this.  I have only tried eggplant once in eggplant lasagna or something (that I didn't make.)  It was gross and I have been afraid to try it again.  Would never have chose to buy one at the store, so it is probably a wonderful thing that I signed up for the CSA so I felt an obligation to try the veggies I had paid for.  Now to find something to make with the HUGE chinese cabbage I got and the okra.  Nothing like random veggies to make me branch out of my comfort zone.  :)
Here is how I made it.

Ingredients

• 1 can crushed tomato
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic minces
• about 1-1 1/2 Tablespoons dehydrated onion
• 1 eggplant (although I only used about 1/2 of it.)
• 1 squash -I had a pale green variety called pipian
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• salt and pepper
• thyme
• Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Slice the squash, eggplant and red pepper very thin.  (on a mandline or in a food processor would be easier.  I used my food processor so I chopped my eggplant and squash down the middle - wasn't as cute as circles, but it was so much quicker and easier to cut.  I also sliced mine in the thin side of my cutting disc - I would probably use the thicker side next time to get more veggies in the dish with less layers)
2. Pour the crushed tomatoes on the bottom of a 2 quart casserole dish.  Mix in garlic, onions, salt and pepper to taste (I used 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper -was definitely too much pepper)
3. On top of the tomatoes, layer eggplant, squash, red pepper and repeat making a nice oval pattern around the dish.
4. Sprinkle olive oil over the veggies.  Sprinkle veggies with salt, pepper and thyme.  Cover with foil and bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes.  Uncover, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, Bake an additional 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted and veggies are cooked through.