Smoky Baba Ganoush
To go with this celebratory week of healthy salads, here's a smoky, silky, creamy spread.
Except I don't spread it. I just eat it with a spoon.
In doing lots of reading for REAL FOOD HAS CURVES, our seven-step plan to get off processed food, I came across research which proved that varied textures on a plate aid in increased satiety--and thus in eating less and being satisfied more quickly, the keys to losing or maintaining weight.
Since it's crucial that a plate of food have a range of textures, the chew-heavy salads this week benefit from something creamy on the side.
Baba ganoush to the rescue! It's an eggplant spread, made with sesame seeds or tahini (that is, sesame seed paste). It's usually got lemon juice and a few spices in the mix--but Bruce's version makes some interesting morphs to this Middle Eastern comfort food. His is smoky and quite tasty. Here's how he does it:
As in the picture up top, wrap 3 medium eggplants in triple layers of aluminum foil. It's important they are sealed--and again and again--to make sure every drop of moisture stays inside, thus creating a little steam oven. Plus, the eggplants will split and burst over the heat, so they need to be "contained." Set the foil packet directly over a medium flame on top of the stove and leave it be for 20 minutes, turning once, until the eggplants inside are quite soft.
If you don't have a gas burner on your stove, use a medium-heat flame on the grill outside for about the same time, turning once. Or set the packet on a lipped baking sheet in a 450F oven for about 40 minutes. However, if you use the oven, you'll miss some of the smoky taste.
Remove the packet from the heat and cool for a few minutes. Carefully unwrap it--the steam is still ridiculously hot!--and slice the eggplants in half lengthwise. Set them cut side down in a colander set over a bowl to drain a bit--perhaps for 10 minutes. This will help the baba ganoush stay creamy without being watery.
Cut off the top knot from each eggplant, then set it flesh side up on a cutting board and scrape out the inner flesh, leaving as much of the peel behind as you can. A flatware knife works best--a paring knife or kitchen knife is too sharp and will shred the peel as the flesh comes off it.
Why leave the skin behind? It does indeed have some smoky taste, but it will also make the baba ganoush too gelatinous. By the next day, the stuff will be like Jell-O. And since these are make-ahead salads this week, they're all about "the next day."
Scrape the eggplants' flesh into a food processor fitted with the chopping blade. Add 2 tablespoon smoked olive oil, 2 tablespoons tahini, 3 quartered garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper.
About those ingredients. We've talked about smoked olive oil on this blog here. It's quite a find. We love the stuff. Bruce is addicted. But if you can't get your hands on a bottle (I know some of you live across various ponds and so don't have a ready way to get these U. S. products), use 2 tablespoons "regular" olive oil plus 1/2 teaspoon mild smoked paprika. Notice also that Bruce has substituted a subtler acid--sherry vinegar--rather than the spikier lemon juice, the better to pair with the smoky taste without competing with it.
That's it. Whir it up and scrape it into a bowl or sealable plastic container. Once again, it'll stay four or five days. And a spoonful next to a crunchy salad is a thing of beauty!
baba ganoush, eggplant, simple, smoked olive oil, sside dish, tahini, vegan, vegetarian
Reader Comments (6)
I was baking this morning, so I threw some eggplants in the oven to roast at the same time. We'll be having baba on toast for lunch..thank you! :)
i love this. the romanian variety contains minced red onion and mayo. the best part is torching those eggplants until they blister and burst. my mother used to knock the cap off the burner and hold them up by the stem, directly in the flame. needless to say, i never will. it's too messy for words. but i do grill them without a care. they get so smoky trapped under the lid. typically we serve it as an appetizer, with feta and tomatoes, some oilves and crusty bread. i'm so in love with this as i've known it all my life, that i've never made baba ganoush. next time i have eggplants i will, i very much like tahini and it's like you say: it's good to try new things.
Oh, this was sooo yum. I don't mean to sound like a mindless groupie, but I just ate it with a spoon too... ;-)
It IS tasty. I finished mine off yesterday for lunch.
M.
Try adding zaatar sometime - it's a great addition!
Oh, Abby, what a great idea! For those of you who don't know, za'atar is a Middle Eastern spice blend of green herbs, salt, and sesame seeds. It's available from all Middle Eastern markets and also some east Indian markets. (It's divine in scrambled eggs.)
M.