Getting Creative With My CSA, The Eggplant Diaries

I rarely buy eggplants.  I just don't know what to do with them half the time.  The other half of the time I panic over the amount of oil they absorb when sauteeing.  My CSA crate has brought me several eggplants and forced me to move my repetoire beyond the traditional greek dishes like moussaka.  I love moussaka.  I made one last week that was absolutely amazing, but took about 3 hours of prep.  I stared at my latest eggplant in dismay.  I didn't want to spend 3 hours making it delicious.  And I didn't have to because I have finally learned the secret of Middle Eastern grandmas.  The secret of perfectly smoky non-bitter eggplant puree to form the building blocks of delicious spreads to dip toasted pita and sliced cucumbers into... from kashk bademjan to Baba Ghanoush. 

This recipe yields a wonderfully smoky, tangy, and rich baba ghanoush.  Its actually better than any other baba ghanoush I've ever tasted.  Start with a medium to large eggplant.  Now here's the secret of grandmothers all over Greece and the Middle East.  Char the skin on all sides over medium to high flame on a gas burner so the skin turns black and crispy.  Keep rotating the eggplant every minute or so to get all parts as best as possible.  Then wrap loosly in tin foil and bake at 350 F for 30 minutes and let cool.  After it cools, the skin should come off easily, just peel it off and set aside.  No oil required.  No messy pans and gross amounts of oil.

Dump the eggplant pulp and the juices in the tin foil into a blender.  The rest is ridiculously easy.  Add 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/4 cup tahini, 4-5 cloves of garlic roughly chopped, and salt and pepper.  Blend until smooth.  Then stir in about 2 TBSP olive oil.  Refridgerate at least 3 hours (preferably overnight) to let the flavors come together.  I ate mine with an extra drizzle of olive oil atop sliced cucumbers from my CSA crate, which adds a bright fresh note to smoky flavor of the eggplant.