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Make the sauce: Preheat the oven to 180 ºC or 350 ºF. Cut 2 bell peppers in halves and discard the seeds. Put the halves on a baking tray with the outsides facing up and roast in the oven for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, chop and sauté onions and garlic in a skillet over medium heat. Peel and grind carrots and add them to the skillet. Add diced tomatoes, two bay leaves and 3-4 sprigs of thyme. When bell peppers are done, peel of the skin with your fingers after cooling down, chop them and add to the sauce. Let the sauce cook for as long as possible, stirring occasionally (from 30 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes). When the sauce is ready, remove the herbs and process it with a blender until smooth. Season with salt and black pepper.
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Prepare your vegetables: Finely slice them in 2-3 mm (0.1 inch) thick circles and arrange them in any order you like. I put a slice of eggplant, then zucchini, tomato, onion, bell pepper. Fill your form tightly with overlapping vegetables, arrange them in circles or rows, depending on the shape of your form. I used 13 x 9 inch pan (33 x 22 cm). Make a try-out to estimate if it’s enough slices. If not, slice more. It’s hard to predict how many vegetables you need, as it depends on their size and on the size of your dish. If the difference between the sizes of your slices is too big (normally, the eggplant has the biggest diameter), you can cut rounds out of the large slices. Cut a section off the bell pepper rings to make them smaller and hide the cut-out pieces on the bottom. After you are done determining the number of veggies needed for your ratatouille, empty the dish.
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Roast: Preheat the oven to 150 ºC or 300 ºF. Pour the sauce in your baking dish and arrange the vegetable slices just like the first time. Sprinkle with the mixture of olive oil, garlic, salt, black pepper and thyme leaves. Cover with aluminium foil and roast for at least 1 hour 30 min (up to 2 hours 30 minutes) on low temperature. Uncover and roast for 20-40 more minutes. The longer you roast it, the richer is the taste and the thicker is the sauce. When you uncover the dish, the liquid from the veggies will evaporate and they will caramelize and acquire an extra rich flavour. Serve it with bread, rice, pasta or potatoes. Or just enjoy its unique taste by itself. Bon Appétit!
