Because It's Fun To Say: Baba Ghanoush

Baba Ghanoush or eggplant spread tastes better then it sounds. Sure it's fun to say but more then that it's delicious. If you like eggplant that is. Up until yesterday I hadn't ever made it before. But now that I have, my fridge won't be without it for the next month. Seriously. With eggplant being in season now until October, I'm going to ride out the remainder of the season with this amazing spread.


This spread is a Middle Eastern dish of roasted and charred eggplant that's pureed with garlic, lemon juice, tahini, olive oil, salt and pepper. It has a creamy, smoky flavour of rich eggplant. Like hummus, it goes well with bread (pita especially), raw or roasted vegetables and salad. This recipe is from Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 1. It's a standard recipe that you could dress up by adding cumin, parsley or chopped pistachios. But you don't need to.

Some of my other favorite recipes for eggplant are marinated eggplant antipasto and eggplant parmesan. I also recently made Jamie Oliver's Aubergine Parmigiana which is (not surprisingly) better tasting and easier to make then the previous recipe I was using. Okay, that's it for me. I'm off to the gym so I can have more pita and baba ghanoush later today.


Baba Ghanoush

Ingredients
2 eggplants
1/4 cup tahini
1 garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
salt and pepper

Directions
Cut each eggplant lengthwise. Score it in a diamond pattern, cutting through most of the flesh, but leaving the skin intact. Rub the surface with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in the oven or on a barbecue until the skins are blackened and the pulp is soft.

Allow to cool and remove the pulp from the skin. In a food processor, puree the eggplant, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper. With the motor running, gradually pour in olive oil until you get the consistency you like (1/3 cup olive oil or less).

Serve as a dip or with roasted vegetables.