Baba Ghanoush!

Monday evening I had my sister over to join me in watching the finale of our...ahem..."guilty pleasure", and the night would not have been complete without a slew of yummy food; Chili, Fried Zucchini Cakes, and for the first time I tried my hand at making Baba Ganoush! It turned out OK. I've only had it once before (store bought from Wegmans) and it didn't quite taste the same as that. Wasn't bad, just different.

I'm not really a fan of using recipes when it comes to cooking, but here is the recipe I kind of followed:

Baba Ghanoush

Ingredients:

• 1 eggplant
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds (I just used sesame tahini)
  
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (I used roasted garlic instead)
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. Place eggplant on baking sheet, and make holes in the skin with a fork. Roast it for 30 to 40 minutes, turning occasionally, or until soft. Remove from oven, and let cool.
3. Remove skin from eggplant, and most of seeds.
   
4. Place eggplant, lemon juice, tahini, sesame seeds, cumin and garlic in an electric blender, and puree. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer eggplant mixture to a medium size mixing bowl, and slowly mix in olive oil. Refrigerate for 3 hours before serving.

Next I will be posting the recipe for my Fried Zucchini Cakes!

Enjoy!