Baba Ghanoush

 For my work holiday party, I made a trio of dips as part of my cooking explosion. I was inspired by a recipe out of my Hungry Girl cookbook, but I wanted to do a more traditional dip. In the cook book it calls it eggplant goo, but I think that is less appetizing than baba ghanoush. For a more traditional flavor combination, and using what I have, I used sesame oil and roasted eggplant, lemon, and salt and pepper, with a healthy amount of cayenne. 

 Ingredients:
2 medium eggplants
1-2 tsp sesame oil
juice from 1 lemon
salt and pepper and cayenne to taste.

One of the things I like about dips is that they are flexible--a little of this, a dash of that, and if you make a mistake you just adjust until it tastes good! The hardest part of this is getting the eggplant right--I roasted it in the oven, but when I took it out it wasn't quite done--so I sliced it and roasted it some more.

 After the eggplant was finally cooked enough, the skin easily peeled off with my hands. Then I rough chopped it, put it in a blender and added the sesame oil and the lemon. After pulsing a few times, I added salt and pepper and cayenne to taste.  
The Verdict: This is a healthier option than hummus and goes well with veggies, pita, or even on a sandwich. Add different flavors and even try grilling the eggplant for a smokey flavor. It wasn't the most popular dip at the party, but eggplant is sometimes an acquired taste, and we had a high food to people ratio. (there may have been more types of dip than people)

5 oriental eggplants

Sesame oil, with or without cayenne

2 lemons

Good olive oil

Parsley/fresh herbs – garnish

Black olives — garnish

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