New obsession confession: making (and eating) homemade Baba Ghanoush, a creamy, yet hearty and flavorful Arabic dip that often accompanies pita and hummus at Mediterranean or Middle Eastern restaurants. You could serve it as an appetizer when hosting dinner guests, take it to a picnic to munch on with veggies, add it as a flavorful spread to sandwiches, wraps, bagels, or substitute tomato sauce on a pizza and top it with artichokes, mushrooms, spinach, garlic, sundried tomatos, and/or kalamata olives to make it Meditteranean!

It’s so easy (8 ingredients, but salt/pepper are 2 of them, they don’t really count), and so, so delicious. I’m addicted to the smooth mildness of flavor of the eggplant and the light, melts-in-your-mouth consistency of this tasty accompaniment appropriate for almost any meal. Go for it, you won’t be sorry, and you’ll probably wish your bowl was bottomless, so you may want to double or triple the recipe and refrigerate it to use for a week. I’m cheering for this recipe to go down into the family cookbook (thus the cheesy Rah-Rah title of my post). *Excuse the sub-par pics, I was eager to make it, and even more eager to dig in!

Here it is, adapted from AllRecipes.com.

Ingredients

• 1 eggplant (or 3 little ones)
• 1/4 cup of fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup Tahini (sesame paste) (You can buy this at almost any grocery store in a Meditteranean aisle or near the peanut/soy butters– it has that consistency)
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil (I think I forgot this step both times I’ve made it and the lemon juice works quite well to lighten up the mixture. Try it both ways and see if you like it with/without olive oil).

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. Place eggplant on baking sheet, and poke holes in the skin with a fork. Roast it for 30 to 40 minutes, turning occasionally, or until soft. Remove from oven, and place into a large bowl of cold water. Remove from water, and peel skin off.
3. Place eggplant, lemon juice, tahini, sesame seeds, and garlic in an electric blender, and puree. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer eggplant mixture to a medium size mixing bowl, and slowly mix in olive oil. Refrigerate for 3 hours before serving.
4. Baba Appetit!