And aside from some needling parchment paper origami and fine-slicing of vegetables (which, as we well know, with my new BFF is frighteningly easy, although the rankings are more like Deb’s thumbnail: 0, Mandoline: 1 right now), you need a minimum of dishes and time to get this together. We’re just getting to the point in the summer where all of the vegetables are readying themselves for their farmers’ market close-up, so the timing couldn’t be better.
But I can believe I’ll be making this again tomorrow, because it’s delicious, seasonal, and an incredible cinch to make. I also can’t believe I cooked a cartoon dish created by an imaginary rat. I can’t believe how well this worked out.
Tell me I’m not alone in this: You saw Ratatouille, fell in love with Remy (though you still jumped a foot in the air when you saw a significantly less-charming rodent scamper across your path on the way home) and found yourself with a pressing craving, not for the heavy and too-often soggy traditional Provençal ratatouille, but that kaleidoscope of spiraled colors they served to the haughty and (spoiler!) soon-humbled restaurant critic.