BA, BA, BA, BA, BABAGANOUSH

This is a good recipe for us because it uses things we have in excess right here in the garden. Eggplant, parsley, and lemon.

Babaganoush (or my version of it anyway)

6 small eggplants (roasted, cooled, and skinned)
1 cup lightly chopped parsley
2 cloves garlic
3 tblspn roasted sesame seeds
2 tblspn sesame oil
**in lieu of the sesame seeds and oil you could just use tahini
Juice from 1 lemon
Salt and Pepper
1 cup of plain yogurt or sour cream

Rub eggplants with some olive oil. Place them on a baking sheet. Roast in 325° oven for about 35 mintes...they should be really soft and starting to wrinkle. When they are cool enough to handle, cut them in half and scoop out the flesh into a bowl. You can store this pulp in the fridge if you're not ready to make the babaganoush just yet. Drain any excess liquid.

***As a quicker alternative to oven-roasting you could GRILL the eggplant. I like to slice it into 1/2 inch or greater slices. Coat slices with olive oil, sprinkle some salt. Put them on a preheated, evenly warmed grilled on medium or low depending on the strength of your grill. When they start to get defined grill marks, flip them over. Then, when they are soft to the touch, transfer them to a bow. Some slices may be further along than others so just have a dish cloth over the bowl and drop the slices in as they are ready. You have to watch them so they don't over cook--by that I mean, they shouldn't be dried out and stiff. They need to be mushy inside. When cool, pull the skin off the slices. You might have to run a knife along the skin to scrape of residual flesh.

Then, in a food processor I add the parsley, garlic, sesame seeds, and sesame oil with the eggplant and set that to work--chopping it all up as much as it can. Conn doesn't like to see any vestiges of eggplant so I really let it go town. Plus, I'm trying to chop up the small sesame seeds as much as possible--doesn't always work. Tahini would be the more effective solution but I never have that on hand.

Dump it into a bowl, blend in the lemon juice. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the yogurt or sour cream and eat it with toasted sesame crackers--yum! More lemon juice can be added to brighten up the flavor.

This makes a lot of baba! I just freeze half of it before adding the yogurt or sour cream.

***The resulting color is different when you grill the eggplant, it's darker green from all the charred bits...and sometimes the grilled version is harsh if I burnt a few of the slices so I add a teaspoon of honey and more lemon juice to mellow it out.