Vegetable Napoleon or Remy's Ratatouille in Roasted Pepper Sauce

Submitted by Lil Miss Peppers

"This is a popular vegetarian dish served at the catering company I work at. I made a smaller version for my family. When you finish it looks a lot like the final dish they serve on the movie Ratatouille. I especially like it because nothing is wasted. All edible parts of the vegetable go into the sauce that aren't used in the main dish. It is very involved but worth it in the end."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 45mins
• Ingredients: 11
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• Napoleon

• 1 eggplant
• 1 squash
• 1 zucchini
• 1 onion
• 4 bell peppers, various colors
• 4 cups low-moisture part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded (enough to coat vegetable slices)
• extra virgin olive oil (enough to coat vegetable slices)

• Sauce

• 2 bell peppers
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream (or whole milk or half&half)
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder or 1 garlic clove
• 1 cup vegetable broth

directions

1. Prepare the first 4 peppers by first cutting off the top and bottom and discarding inedible portions. Then cut down the sides so they form solid squares. You can usually manage to get about 3 pieces from each pepper that are 2 inches square each. Throw all pieces, including excess edible portions into a baking pan. Gut the two peppers for the sauce and cut into manageable pieces. Place them in pan as well.
2. To prepare other vegetables, cut off top and bottoms, discarding inedible portions. Slice eggplant, zucchini, onions and squash into circular pieces. Eggplant should be approx 1/4 inch thick, onion, zucchini and squash can be any thickness desired under 1/8 inch. Place all edible pieces in baking pan.
3. Coat all vegetables in olive oil.
4. Roast in oven (500 degrees) for up to 30 minutes until edges of pepper are beginning to blacken and other vegetable centers become soft enough to poke with a fork.
5. Grill 6 slices of eggplant on skillet and lay out individually on a cooking-sprayed cookie sheet.
6. Then grill 12 slices of bell peppers. Place one on each stack of vegetables. The other 6 will be another layer after the next step.
7. Next, grill zucchini slices and places enough on each pepper slice to cover fully. Throw excess into blender or food processor.
8. Now stack other grilled bell peppers on top of stacks. ALL other pepper not yet used, including those specifically made for the sauce should be thrown in the blender.
9. Grill squash and place enough slices on each stack to cover peppers fully. Throw excess into blender.
10. Place onion slices on top of stack.
11. Top each stack with a generous helping of mozzarella cheese (or one slice).
12. Place cookie sheet in oven (350 degrees) for approx 15 minutes or until all cheese is completely melted.
13. While the pieces are in the oven puree the excess vegetables and put in a large saucepan. Add the juice in the bottom of the pan from roasting the vegetables as well as the whipping cream and veggie broth.
14. Season sauce as desired. I personally added parsley and pepper flakes for a sweet and spicy combination.
15. Heat on medium-high until throughly mixed into a creamy sauce.
16. To serve, place one napoleon on a plate and pour pepper sauce on top until well covered.