Baba Ganouj....

[osodecanela]

Organic eggplant on mark down at the green grocer this morning? Tahini on close out at the local market yesterday? Time to make baba ganouj.

It's been a good 18 months since I made a batch. I grabbed 3 medium globe eggplants this morning and put them up to roast when I got home. After letting them cool a bit, peeled them, and tossed the pulp into the food processor with the zest & juice of one good sized organic lemon, 3 tbsp of tahini, a couple of tablespoons of chopped Gilroy garlic, and some Spanish paprika & blended it till almost smooth. Perfect.
A pint of baba ganouj to relish over the week. I even have a bag of Glutino brand gluten free bagel chips in the house.

Num Num!

Comments

[toppercub.livejournal.com]

I never knew how to spell baba ganouj, so thanks!

[osodecanela.livejournal.com]

I grew up with this stuff Topper. My spelling comes from the way I saw it written in several of the middle eastern restaurants of my youth and since its a transliteration from Arabic, there are a number of spellings possible in English. Ghanoush, Ganoush, Ghanouj, Ganouj are all spellings I have seen.

As for transliterations, from the 'open mouth, insert foot' file, years ago when I was still in my residency at UCSF, I overheard two Chinese-American women who were discussing last names; both had taken their husbands surname, one "Dong", the other "Teng". When the former heard the latter's surname in her native Chinese, she exclaimed rather excitedly, "Your husband's "Dong" is the same as mine!"

That was when I discovered that coffee spraying out of one's nose is an unpleasant experience, no matter how funny the provocation.

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

I made it once, it was pretty good.

[osodecanela.livejournal.com]

Glad you liked it. I look forward to harvest time for eggplant for just this reason - Baba Ganouj and Zacusca.

Given my family's eastern European roots, eggplant was very much part of my upbringing. It seems foreign to most Americans, and perhaps that's part of its appeal for me. In my experience, folks either love eggplant or hate it; few seem to have neutral feelings about it.

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

It's not well done in American cooking, but really good in Mid Eastern.