Friday, April 16, 2010

BEST Baba Ghanoush EVER

Please note: This recipe is not for a little, dinky, wimpy "dip bowl" of baba. This is for a SALAD BOWL sized batch, which is the only amount of baba ghanoush worth making. It's enough for a party, or for a family. The difference is leftovers. And leftovers are delicious. On second thought, I would make two batches of this recipe for a party.

1. Get together all of your equipment (baking sheet, large ceramic or glass bowl, spoons, and a fork) and ingredients.

2. Roast the eggplant:

4 large eggplants
2 large cloves of garlic, sliced
extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Make three or four evenly spaced slits across one side of the eggplant. Stuff the slits with garlic slices. Poke a few more holes in the top with the tip of a knife. Set the eggplants (garlic side up) on a baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Then, remove from oven and let cool (enough to touch). slice the stems off, slice open the skin lengthwise, and use spoons to scoop out the flesh into a large ceramic or glass bowl. Once the skins have been emptied, add the liquid from the baking pan into the bowl.

3. Season this already delicious-smelling bowl of goop.

Add all of the following ingredients to the bowl. Mash together with the fork until smoothish:

1/2 teaspoon of coarse salt (sea salt would probably be yummy too)
about 3 teaspoons of ground coriander
about 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
about 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1/4 - 1/3 cup of tahini (or to taste)
2 large cloves of crushed garlic
about 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
about 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar

4. Let sit for a few hours to let the flavors really meld together.

5. Grab some toasted pita and ENJOY.

Troubleshooting: Ok. So if you managed to somehow do the seemingly impossible, and put in too much raw garlic. Don't panic. And don't you dare throw out this masterpiece of slop. Simply put it into a deep pan/pot and saute it for a little while on low heat. The garlic will mellow and once your baba ghanoush is cooled back down to room temp, it will be delicious.