Ratatouille Sub

Ingredients

1 zuccini
1 Egg plant
1 yellow squash
1 to 2 red peppers
1/2 small yellow onion
8 oz tomato puree or tinned tomato sauce
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
salt
chilli flakes or piment d’Espelette
1 tbsp chopped fresh herbs, such as thyme

sub rolls, or the equivalent length of baguette
Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and prepare the vegetables: Trim the ends from the egg plant, zucchini, and squash, and, with a mandoline, adjustable-blade slicer, or very sharp knife, slice them into pieces approximately 1mm thick. As carefully as you can, trim the ends of the red pepper and remove the core, leaving the flesh intact, like a tube. Thinly slice crosswise. Thinly slice the onion as well.

2. Spread the tomato puree into a large baking dish. Stir in the onion slices, minced garlic, 1 tbsp of the olive oil, a few pinches of salt, and a pinch of pepper flakes. Arrange vegetabl slices so that they overlap, with just a smidgen of each flat surface visible. The pepper will give you the most trouble, because it’s probably bigger in diameter than the other vegetables, but whether it fans prettily or not, it will bake nicely. You might not need all of your vegetables.

3. Drizzle remaining tbsp of olive oil over the vegetables, and sprinkle with thyme. Cover dish with foil, and bake for 45 minutes, until vegetables are almost completely fork-tender.

4. Meanwhile, split your sub rolls. Once the 45 minutes are up, increase oven setting to 450 degrees, remove foil from the baking dish, and bake, uncovered, 15 minutes more. On the other rack, place your sub rolls on a tray to roast for 5 to 10 minutes.

5. A long, thin angled spatula, like a palette knife, is best for serving here. Carefully slice it under one section of the fanned vegetables, and slide it onto the bottom half of a toasted roll. Keep adding sections until you have covered the bread, and then repeat this so you have a second layer of fanned vegetables. Scoop up any oniony sauce that was left beneath the vegetables, and lay it over the sub. Close each sub with the top half of the roll, cut into manageable lengths to eat, and serve.