Baba Ghanoush

Alicia didn't have too many weird pregnancy cravings. But in the first trimester, she did angle for the Middle Eastern restaurant quite a bit when we were out. As a result, our baby bump became known early on as "Baby Ganoush", after this delicious spread we could never resist from ordering.

After a while, Alicia decided to make our own stash of this at home, and turns out it's a snap. Normally, we're not big eggplant fans, but this hits the spot for dipping veggies, crackers or pita tips. It's really good served with some calamata olives!

You Need:

two medium eggplants
1 1/2 cloves of chopped garlic
4 tbs. tahini
the juice of two medium room-temperature lemons
1 tsp salt
fresh ground black pepper
dash of olive oil

cookie tray
food processor

And Then Do This:

Preheat your oven to broil. Spread some foil on a cookie sheet, put the eggplants on it, and broil them until they start to shrivel up and smell good. Turn them over so they get evenly cooked - 10-12 minutes total, or about 5-6 minutes for each side. Turn your oven down from the broil to 400 degrees and cook the eggplant for about another 15 minutes. They should be very mooshy. Take them out of the oven and let them cool off a bit.

Once your eggplants have cooled down enough to touch them, cut off the tops and make a lengthwise slice in each one. Carefully scrape the seeds away from the flesh, then the flesh away from the skin.

Put your eggplant flesh into a food processor with all the other ingredients and pulse it until smooth. Have a taste, and add more lemon, salt or pepper until things are to your liking. Voila- Baby Ghanoush!

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