E is for Eggplant

When I was in graduate school, my cohort and I would often have potluck dinners as an excuse to stop studying and be social. Potlucks were easy - maybe it was because we were poor grad students - and everyone always made delicious food. To spice things up, we always tried to come up with different themes for our potlucks - favorite comfort food, traditional cultural/religious dish, etc. One of our more "creative" themes was make a dish that either starts with the first letter of your name or a dish with a main ingredient that starts with the first letter of your name. My name, if you did not know by now, is Elisabeth...so I chose a dish with eggplant. Enter baba ganoush:

Baba Ganoush

Ingredients:

• 1 medium/large or 2 small eggplants
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 Tbl olive oil
• 1/4 cup tahina
•  dash of cumin
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions
1. Slice eggplants vertically and rub with olive oil. Place face down on a baking sheet. Roast eggplants for 20 minutes in an oven heated to 350 degrees, or until soft.

2. In a food processor, chop 1 clove of garlic with 2 Tbl of extra virgin olive oil. Add roasted eggplant, and chop. Transfer to a bowl.

3. Add 1/4 cup of tahina (sesame paste), salt and pepper to taste, a dash of cumin, and the juice from 1 half lemon. Stir well and enjoy - more lemon juice, salt, pepper, or garlic can be added based on personal preference.

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Prep Time!

Our CSA share came with 3 small eggplants - the first two were used for baba ganoush, and the third one was grilled, with a balsamic vinegar marinade. A marinade was made using equal parts olive oil and vinegar, oregano, garlic, salt, and pepper. The eggplant was sliced, and then grilled on our grill pan for about 7 minutes on each side. We ate it with baked chicken and sautéed spinach and garlic. Delicious!

Grilled Eggplant