ratatouille pizza

The beginning of fall means the end of summer vacations, back to school and the return of pizza and movie night for many a household.  You could keep it simple and just put the usual toppings on or you could get inspired and make a pizza topping that ties into a theme with your movie.

Ratatouille is a great movie that all ages can enjoy. Why not rent the movie Ratatouille and make a ratatouille pizza that even Ego, the food critic, would enjoy.

Ratatouille pizza

(This recipe is adapted from Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse Vegetables.)

1 small ( 1/2 a large) eggplant, cut into 3/4 inch cubes

2 small onions

1 large red pepper

2 small zucchini

4 tomatoes

4 cloves garlic, diced

hot pepper flakes (optional)

basil

3/4 cup smoked Gouda cheese, shredded

Cut the eggplant into cubes. Salt it and leave it to drain in a colander.

To peel the skins from the tomatoes, bring a pot of water to boil. Cut a cross in the bottom of the tomatoes. Place in boiling water until the skin starts to peel away from the cut, about 3 minutes. Remove and drain. When cool, remove skins and chop.

Cut up onions, pepper and zucchini into pieces the same size as the eggplant.

Heat olive oil in heavy saute pan. Add the eggplant and gently fry over medium-low heat until it is nice and brown and yummy. Remove from pan.

Add a little more oil as needed. Add onions and saute until they are soft and translucent, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic (and hot pepper flakes if you like) and saute for a couple minutes. Add the remaining vegetables and saute for about 15 minutes, until done. Salt and pepper to taste. When completed, combine

the vegetables and the eggplant. Toss and remove from pan.

Add the tomatoes and basil and saute until tomatoes have cooked down.

When the tomatoes have cooked, remove the basil. Add the vegetables back to the pan and combine. You can make this a day ahead if you would like to let the flavors develop or to save time on pizza night.

Roll out pizza dough. Add ratatouille mixture. Top with cheese and bake in the bottom rack of a 500 degree oven for 8 minutes. If pizza usually takes longer to cook in your oven, leave the cheese off and cook the pizza for 5 minutes before add the cheese. The smoked gouda will burn if you cook it longer than 8 minutes.

Remove pizza from oven and top with fresh basil leaves. Hustle back to the movie to find out if Remy is okay and enjoy!