Ratatouille en Tartine

Inspired by the trip to France, I made a pot of Ratatouille on Monday night and had it on Tartine for Tuesday sandwich dinner.  It was actually first night to use my Le Creuset french oven, which was a wedding gift from a friend and I loved how it cooked vegetables.  The heat is spread gently and equally to every part and it's less likely to get burned with small amount of oil; just perfect for slow cooking.  I was amazed by how sweet the veggies were cooked.  

I should have made more Ratatouille because it has many uses; sauce for spaghetti and lasagna, quiche, pie or can be even curry for rice adding ground meat and spices!  For my Tartine, I had a layer of goat cheese under ratatouille to give some richness (totally ignoring my diet).  Here is my recipe for Ratatouille en Tartine.

-Feb. 17 grocery shopping €13.73 / €101.75 left
-Feb. 18 grocery shopping €16.19 / € 85.56 left

Ingredients (serves 6-8)

...<for Ratatouille>
1 large zucchini
1 large eggplant
1 yellow bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 medium onion
3 tomatoes
2 tbs. tomato puree
2-3 cloves of garlic
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. herbs of province (mixture of thyme, rosemary 
salt&pepper

...<for Tartine (for 2-3 portions)> 
2 sheets or a handful of goat cheese
1 baguette

Directions
1. Peel garlics and cut in half.  Dice all the veggies into 1.5cm/0.5inch cubes.   
2. Heat olive oil in a large stew pot or dutch oven (over medium heat) and cook garlic for about 2 min. then add onions and cook for another 3 min. until it gets transparent.
3. Add in bell peppers and cook for 2 min.  Then add zucchini and eggplant and cook for another 2 min.
4. Add diced tomato and tomato puree, season with herbs, salt& pepper, cover and simmer for about 7-8min.
5. Cut baguette in half and slice horizontally.  Toast in oven for 2-3 min. placing cheese only at the last minute so it melts a bit.
6. Serve Ratatouille on top and bon apetit!