Ratatouille tian: The aesthete’s answer to roast vegetables

Your kids might recognize this dish, even if they don’t know its name, said Clotilde Dusoulier in The French Market Cookbook (Clarkson Potter.) In the 2007 animated film Ratatouille, Chef Linguini finally wins over a haughty food critic with an assemblage that turns sliced garden vegetables into a minor work of art. Like a traditional ratatouille, this variation comes from Provence. But the vegetables, instead of being cooked on a stove, are arranged in an earthenware pan called a tian; oven roasting “coaxes them into caramelization.”

Keep in mind when you’re shopping that the dish looks best if each of the vegetables is about the same diameter. A tian tastes even better the day after it’s cooked, served either reheated or cold. You can lay the vegetables over a bowl of long-grain rice or slip them into a focaccia sandwich with fresh basil and pine nuts.

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Ratatouille tian

• 1¹⁄³ lbs small eggplants
• Salt
• 3 tsp herbes de Provence or a mix of dried thyme, rosemary, basil, and oregano
• 1¹⁄³ lbs medium zucchini
• 1¾ lbs plum tomatoes
• Olive oil
• 2 small yellow onions (4¼ oz each), finely sliced
• 8 fresh sage leaves, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced

Using a mandoline or a knife, cut eggplants crosswise into 1⁄8-inch rounds. In a colander, toss sliced eggplant with 1 tsp salt. Let rest for 1 hour, then pat eggplant dry with a clean kitchen towel, transfer to a bowl, and sprinkle with 1 tsp herbes de Provence.

Cut zucchini and tomatoes crosswise into 1⁄8-inch rounds. Place in two separate bowls; sprinkle each vegetable with ½ tsp salt and 1 tsp herbes de Provence.

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly oil an 8-by-10-inch glass or ceramic baking dish. Scatter onions evenly over bottom. Sprinkle with ¼ tsp salt and a touch of olive oil.

Arrange a row of overlapping tomato slices along one side of the dish (pack them in tightly so that they are almost upright). Sprinkle with a little sage and garlic. Follow with a row of overlapping eggplant slices and a row of zucchini slices, sprinkling each with a little sage and garlic as you go. Repeat pattern until you’ve filled dish and used up all of the vegetables, packing rows of vegetables together very tightly. If any vegetables remain at the end, slip them among their peers to flesh out the rows that seem to need it.

Drizzle with 3 tbsp olive oil, cover loosely with foil, and bake for 30 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 425 and bake for 30 minutes longer. Remove foil and bake until vegetables are tender and tips of the vegetable slices are appealingly browned, about another 30 minutes. Serve hot, at room temperature, or chilled. Serves 6.