Eggplants are one of my favorite things to grow, and when they are really producing, I like to make baba ganoush. It’s a recipe I begin earlier in the day by slow roasting the eggplants, and I throw in a bulb of garlic as well, to use instead of raw garlic, which can be rough on some folks’ stomachs. It’s a great dish for a Mediterranean spread, and I’ll often serve it with hummus and muhammara, a walnut-red pepper spread, with homemade pita chips, and crudités.
Ingredients
2-3 medium or 1 large eggplant
3-4 cloves roasted garlic
juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon*
3 tablespoons tahini
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
chopped fresh parsley
dash cayenne or paprika
Recipe
Preheat oven to 300. Using a fork, pierce the eggplants a few times, and place in the baking dish (I use a covered clay pot. but anything that can be covered will do). Roast until completely soft, about 1.5-2 hours. Allow to cool (I like to roast the eggplants the night before or early in the morning, so they’ll be room temperature). Slit the eggplants down one side, and scoop out the flesh of the eggplant into a food processor. Add garlic, lemon juice, tahini, cumin, and salt, and blend on pulse until just blended. Add chopped parley and pulse 2-3 times, just to incorporate. Adjust seasoning (the last time I made it, I added too much lemon juice, and used a new trick to neutralize the sour: I added a teaspoon of maple syrup–it really did the trick!
To make the pita chips, cut a package of pita into triangles, and toss with 2-3 tablespoons, 1/2 teaspoon each paprika, salt, and ground cumin. Place on baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees until crisp, 10-15 minutes.
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