Smokey Eggplant Baba Ganoush

In this week's produce share we had some really nice looking eggplants and peppers. These along with a recent delivery of heirloom hardneck garlic convinced me to make some modifications to a traditional baba ganoush recipe.

• 1 bulb of garlic, top cut off exposing the cloves
• Olive oil
• 2-3 eggplants, (~2 pounds)
• 1 Poblano pepper, remove seeds
• 1 Jalapeno pepper, remove seeds
• 1 teaspoon whole cumin seed - toasted in dry pan then ground in a pestle and mortar
• 1/4 cup of tahini paste (55g)
• 1/4 cup of lemon juice (55g, ~1 large lemon)
• 1/4 cup pine nuts - dry toasted

Garnish options

• Fresh herbs as desired (parsley, mint)
• More toasted pine nuts
• Smoked paprika
• Olive oil

1. Put the garlic into some aluminum foil and drizzle olive oil over the cut top. Wrap to fully close and place at the bottom of your oven
2. Turn oven onto broil
3. Poke holes in the eggplant skin all around
4. Place eggplant and peppers on a baking sheet and drizzle the peppers with a bit of olive oil
5. Under a broiler by 2-3 inches, roast the peppers and eggplant until the peppers are browned, but not burnt. Rotate the eggplant as needed.
6. Once the peppers are cooked, remove and place into a food processor, continue to rotate eggplant until the skin is blistered and charred. This could take about 10-25 minutes depending on how often you rotate, how close the eggplant is to broiler and how big they are.
7. Set eggplant aside to cool completely
8. Continue to roast garlic for a total of 60 - 70 minutes at 400 degrees, until it is soft and spreadable. once cool, squeeze out 2-3 bulbs worth of garlic meat into the food processor. Save the rest in your fridge for another amazing meal.
9. Once eggplant is cool, slice in half lengthwise, carefully scrape out the flesh with a knife or icecream scraper. Put into a colander and discard burnt skins and don't worry about some charred flesh- leave that in there
10. Salt the eggplant and leave for 5-10 minutes in the colander, then squeeze into a ball to remove liquid.
11. Add eggplant, tahini, lemon, cumin, and toasted pine nuts into the food processor that has the peppers and garlic.
12. Puree to your desired texture, taste and adjust the salt, cumin and lemon levels as desired
13. Garnish with olive oil, herbs, paprika or whatever you'd like

Serve on crackers, pita bread or as part of an amazing sandwich.