Recently, Daughter streamed one of her favorite films, the animated Ratatouille. It’s the story of a rat with a penchant for cooking.

Many years ago Daniel Pinkwater, an NPR commentator I enjoyed listening to, intoned about how he lost weight with the ratatouille weight-loss plan (https://www.pinkwater.com/the-ratatouille-weight-loss-plan/). His recommendations that stuck with me were: “Don’t eat more.” If you want a piece of cake, have a small piece and … don’t eat more. And “Ratatouille;” prepare a dish you like with few calories and turn to it when hungry. Now that I look at this link above I see I got the first suggestion wrong!

Ratatouille is a dish I’ve long enjoyed when I had zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, carrots, onions, sometimes, celery cooked in a rich tomato sauce. My usual ratatouille is an “easy to prepare” stew of chopped up vegetables that calls for little or no attention.

I’ve seen beautifully arrayed sliced vegetables called ratatouille in a number of on-line sources. Our dear Disney creation, Ratatouille, shines with his single portion stack of the said vegetables.

Once again, it’s summer and time for lots of squashes. I thought I’d go a step further and make a galette.

Ratatouille galette, sans recipe. Simply stated, slice the squashes and eggplant thinly (you can use a mandolin, I free-handed). Toss in olive oil, herbs de Provence,* salt and pepper. One small leek was waiting in the fridge; I sliced and included it, too (Constant Companion particularly enjoyed this addition). Spread on a cookie tin and roast in a medium over (350F) for about half and hour.

*Constant Companion thought this herb collection was overpowering, choose the seasoning your family enjoys.

Open a pie crust (I do not make my own, you can). Distribute the roasted vegetables in a circular pattern according to your own aesthetics. Add thinly sliced tomatoes. Top with a spray of olive oil and bake for about an hour in the moderate oven.

Dinner that night included lemon roast chicken with potato wedges. Very nice.