Baba Ganoush
Hailing from the Levant (modern day Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, and Syria), Baba Ganoush is a spread that utilizes the eggplant’s thick skin to cook itself into sweet, smokey, luscious-ness. The key to attaining both smokey flavor and thoroughly cooked eggplant is direct heat. Do not fear the char. Place your eggplants directly on the coals, right under the broiler, or on a gas range -- anywhere you’re comfortable with a bit of smoke -- and let that baby burn.
2-3 medium eggplants
3 T tahini
½-1 lemon, juiced
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
Olive oil
Salt
Parsley, to garnish
Place the eggplant over a direct heat source. Burn baby burn. Should take about 15-25 minutes to be good and charred all over. While you’re turning your eggplant, feel for firmness. As it cooks, it should become increasingly mushy. Turn firm sections directly over the heat to ensure equal cooking.
Once fully charred, place the eggplant in a closed container (pot with a tight fitting lid, Tupperware container, bowl with plastic wrap) and leave to cool for about 20 minutes.
While the eggplant is cooling, whisk lemon juice, tahini, and garlic in a bowl. If the tahini is stodgy, whisk in a small amount of cold water until the tahini becomes lighter in color, and fluffy.
After the eggplant has steamed, remove all the burnt skins. From here you could roughly chop up the eggplant and mix in the tahini sauce for a chunkier situation, or you could place the eggplant and tahini sauce in a food processor and blend until smooth -- either way, adjust the final product with salt, lemon juice (to balance the smokiness), and olive oil (for silkiness).
Enjoy with some fresh flatbread, crudite, or pita chips.
