thursday recipe: baba ganoush (eggplant dip)

If you've never made this you must. You will never buy commercially made baba ganoush again. I made this on Mother's Day to take to our shared lunch at my aunty's house. It was a beautiful day both weather wise and company wise. I hope you had a beautiful day too. And if you didn't, breathe a sigh of relief it's over for another year and know that next year it may just be your best one yet! It's a funny thing about Mother's Day, it can be a day of such mixed emotions. Anyway back to the dip...

I really love eggplant if it is cooked well. Grilled eggplant, eggplant moussaka, stuffed eggplant, baba ganoush I love it all. For this dip I used two medium size eggplant, wrapped them in foil and then nestled them into the coals inside our woodheater. I turned them from time to time until they were deliciously soft. I removed them from the fire and let them cool just enough to touch and peel back the skin. I then put the cooked eggplant into the food processor along with 1/2 cup of tahini, the juice of two lemons, 2 garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, a good pinch of sea salt and a handful of parsley. So simple and so heavenly in flavour.

My aunty's mother-in-law who is in her eighties and loved the dip told me it was the first time she'd ever eaten eggplant. I was happy I made it just so that Nana Cel tried eggplant for the first time!

If you've never tried eggplant before or would like to introduce it to your children give this recipe a go and if you like it share it with your friends.

I'm writing this the night before we set off. The packing is calling me back to it...gee there's always a lot to sort out when going away!

More soon. Looking forward to my first post from the road. x

Baba ganoush

Ingredients

2 or 3 medium eggplant, char grilled or roasted and peeled
1/2 cup tahini
juice of 2 lemons
2 garlic cloves crushed
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
a good pinch of sea salt
handful of fresh parsley

(adjust lemon juice, salt and garlic to your taste)

To make

- To get the traditional smoky flavour of baba ganoush, grill the eggplants whole over an open flame until the skin is blistered and the flesh soft. If you don't have a gas flame or woodfire to do this in, roast the eggplant in the oven. Roasting in the oven won't give you the smoky flavour but it will still be supremely more delicious than most commercially made versions.
- Place peeled, cooked eggplant and all other ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Garnish with fresh herbs. Enjoy.