Life of Wry

Our cups so runneth over with eggplant.

It seemed a token effort at first… we were filling a space in the front yard that was created when we’d removed our huge old tangelo tree.  We had a few months to kill before planting another tree, so decided to fill the space with a small, temporary garden. Tomatoes, a few varieties of peppers, basil, more tomatoes and just two eggplant plants. (That was fun to say.)

Apparently conditions were perfect and we’ve been swimming in eggplants all fall. Which is great because two out of three of us love eggplant.

Okay, so tonight’s eggplant adventure: Baba Ghanoush.

I forgot to take pictures. I got a couple, but had to borrow a couple others:

First, you prick a couple of medium eggplants with a fork. Then Jim charred them over a flame on the stove. One can grill the eggplants on a BBQ, which may be somewhat easier but more of an undertaking. The idea is to sort of blacken them much the same way you do when roasting peppers, which eases skin removal later and gives them a very smokey flavor. It’s awesome.

Then you put them in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes to make sure they are cooked all the way through. They look very sorry after all this (this is a borrowed photo):

Then, after resting awhile, you can peel them, which is messy, but easy. They look like this:

See, messy:

Then, you mash them to a slimy little pulp, add about 1/4 c of tahini, 3 minced garlic cloves, 1/4 c of lemon juice, and a pinch of cumin.  We then put it in the blender to make it smooth. I picked a Williams Sonoma recipe, which doesn’t blend, but others do and I prefer the smoother texture.

It is incredible.  To serve, you create a shallow well with the back of a large spoon, drizzle olive oil over it, sprinkle flat leaf parsley on top, and surround with kalamata olives. Or whatever. Serve with pita or crackers. Here’s a picture of what it might look like tomorrow (again, a borrowed pic):