Baba Ganoush Sans Tahini

We did it - we hired a contractor to remodel our kitchen. It’s exciting, a bit freaky and unnerving and of course there is the construction. To be honest, I never realized how dated our kitchen was until I saw it on the big screen at the remodelers office - yikes. In May that will all change - new kitchen here we come. I’ll start with a little preview of color and materials that we picked out. 

If you know me, you know that navigating through any kind of remodel/construction is not something I do well - I hate a mess, especially one I have little to no control over. We’ll have to take it one day at a time and hope for the best - as Dan says “Let’s hope we’re still married at the end” ever the optimist I say!

We’re planning to move our microwave, toaster oven and hotplate to the basement, where we have a wet bar and we hope to do a fair amount of grilling - with luck we’ll be good. I’m envisioning 6 weeks of interesting and creative blog posts. If you have suggestions/recipes for cooking in limited circumstances please send them my way. 

I love eggplant and Dan is a huge fan of Baba Ghanoush - which is tasty but for me the tahini takes over the entire dish. In my opinion a little tahini goes a long way. I was a the grocery store the other day and noticed a brand of hummus I hadn’t seen before; Lantana - they had some delicious flavors such as Siracha Carrot and Spicy Black Bean all sans tahini. It got me thinking; what if I made Baba Ghanoush without tahini? So I gave it a shot and it’s delicious and I don’t miss the tahini. Actually the smoky eggplant flavor comes through in a delicious way - I encourage you to give it a try!

This recipe makes about 1 cup has 6 ingredients and after you roast the eggplant it takes minutes to put together. 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds of eggplant

3 T. extra virgin olive oil

1 T. fresh lemon juice

2 - 3 cloves garlic, finely minced

1 t. coarse sea salt

A few grinds of pepper

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 F. Wash and dry eggplant before pricking several times all over with a sharp knife. Place on a baking sheet and place in oven to roast for about 45 minutes or until eggplants are soft to the touch and look deflated.

Allow roasted eggplants to cool completely.  You can even roast them the day before and store them in plastic wrap at room temperature until ready to use. Cut off the stems, slice lengthwise and remove the flesh and place in a blender.

Add the oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper.  Blend on high until smooth and creamy.  Serve at room temperature or chilled with wedges of pita bread. Also good as a spread for sandwiches.   

Enjoy!