Recipe and pairing suggestions linked below, along with pictures from my baba ganoush making adventure!

Summer’s bounty is still rolling in nicely out here, and I couldn’t resist picking up some of these beautiful Purple Pixie eggplants when we saw them in the market last weekend.  These little guys are gorgeous, tender, and have very few seeds, which makes them the ideal candidate for a variety of eggplant dishes.  I brought them home with plans to make baba ganoush for a Mediterranean-themed dinner, and was ready to take on the challenge of making this from scratch.

I used the recipe from Serious Eats, because their recipes always yield really good results.  This recipe is a little bit of a project, but it was fun to do!  Also, I got to use my broiler for the first time, which was very exciting! 

The recipe involves charring the eggplant under a broiler (or on a grill) until fully charred and tender, then wrapping in foil and steaming until super tender.  I thought this method was really interesting and I’ve done a similar process for roasting peppers, but turns out it works super well with eggplant too!  I had much smaller eggplant so they roasted up in about 10-15 minutes, which is much faster than the recipe called for with the larger eggplants.  Also, they tended to pop which sounded like they were exploding during the broiling process, so that was very exciting/terrifying!

After roasting/steaming, the flesh separates out from the charred skins super easily.  The flesh is drained and spun of excess moisture in a salad spinner (super fun!), and then mashed into a paste with tahini, salt, and grated garlic.  Finally, olive oil is drizzled and mixed in to form the final baba ganoush.

I have to say, the final product of this recipe was absolutely amazing.  I was eating spoonfuls of it before it even got to the table, it was that delicious.  We served this with some Trader Joe’s falafel and a nice big salad, and it was perfect.  I ate the leftovers on top of a salad with romaine and garden fresh tomatoes the next day, and it was summer perfection.

I hope this inspires you to embrace summer eggplant and make the most amazing dip out of it!  I’ll link the full recipe on Serious Eats below, along with some of my recipes that I think would pair really well with baba ganoush and make a really nice meal.  Happy summer, friends!

Make it:  Serious Eats Baba Ganoush

Pair With:

• Marinated Cannellini Bean and Tomato Salad
• Tomatoes with Crispy Chickpeas and Tahini
• Giant Veggie Flatbread Sandwich
• Mediterranean Style Turkey Meatballs
• Sourdough Levain Flatbread

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