I spend a lot of time in my cooking classes teaching people to like things they thought they hated. In most cases, we dislike food because it's been mistreated or otherwise misunderstood in some way. Whether it's over-cooked, under-cooked or simply not understood, we can often lose the maximum flavor and deliciousness for food. This is especially true for vegetables. One of the most common examples is eggplant or aubergine. Even I, as a child, hated eggplant. But, it can be incredibly delicious, rich and complex. The trick is knowing what it wants! It wants to be released from its bitterness and appreciated and coaxed to complexity. Don't we all?
Here's my favorite variation on an eggplant dip that is just phenomenal. It's similar to Baba Ghanoush, but is even more mysterious and zippy due to some of the little twists I put into the recipe. This is my "Smoky Grilled Eggplant Dip", just in time for Summer parties!
It's light but feels rich because of the texture and the wonderful note chili and lemon juice. It's deeply complex from the smokiness of the eggplant. And, because there's no trace of bitterness or sliminess that people associate with eggplant, my guests were hard-pressed to identify it at all! Many thought of hummus, but knew that wasn't right. To make eggplant delicious you should always purge it of the bitterness (described in recipe below) and roast or grill it to the point of having a little charred flavor. Eggplant loves to be charred! If you're frying it you must not only purge it but also squeeze it completely dry and then make sure your frying oil is always 350˚F and never lower. If the oil isn't hot enough and you're frying eggplant, it will absorb way too much of the oil and that's what turns it into a slippery, slimy mess that can be so unappealing. This recipe skips all of that by grilling it to soft texture with nice charred grill marks. Sorry, I didn't get a picture of that before I spun it through the food processor.
I think it best to serve the dip with some olive oil flat-bread or something more Mediterranean than a simple cracker. I love these Olive Oil Crisp Breads from Spain, and also like the lightly sugared variety as a contrast to the smoky and tangy flavors from the dip.
Yum! Make this for your next party and I'm telling you -- people will love it and be positively stunned that it's eggplant, likely something on their "Top 5 Foods I Hate" list.
Ingredients
Serves 6-8 as snack
1 medium Italian eggplant, sliced in 1/2" slices, purged of bitterness (see below instructions)
1 T. kosher salt
1 hot long red Italian chili pepper
1 T. pine nuts, toasted
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 package olive oil crisp bread or other crispy Mediterranean flatbreads
Method:
1) Slice eggplant and place in large colander. Sprinkle each slice evenly with the kosher salt, making sure the slices are all covered. Let the colander drain in a sink or over a bowl for 30 minutes. The salt extracts some of the juices from the eggplant and particularly, the bitterness. You'll see the liquid that strains out is dark brownish. That's bitterness you're removing! Lightly rinse the salt off the eggplant slices and wrap each slice in paper towels and squeeze dry. Get as much moisture out without damaging the eggplant. Spread the slices out flat on a cooling rack and let them sit another 30 minutes.
2) Light a grill our stove burner with grill pan and preheat. Lightly brush a layer of olive oil on the eggplant slices and grill until soft and nicely blackened, about 4-5 minutes each side. Remove the eggplant from the grill. In a small skillet, toast the pine nuts until golden brown and fragrant, bout 3-5 minutes.
3) Add the eggplant, red chile pepper and pine nuts to a food processor and pulse into a thick paste. Add in the lemon juice and ground black pepper and puree until smooth. Taste and adjust any seasoning. You may need a pinch of salt since the only salt we used was in the purging at the beginning. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil, while the processor is running until the dip is soft and creamy.
4) Scrape the dip into a serving bowl and serve with olive oil crisp bread or flatbreads immediately.
Ingredients
Serves 6-8 as snack
1 medium Italian eggplant, sliced in 1/2" slices, purged of bitterness (see below instructions)
1 T. kosher salt
1 hot long red Italian chili pepper
1 T. pine nuts, toasted
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 package olive oil crisp bread or other crispy Mediterranean flatbreads
Method:
1) Slice eggplant and place in large colander. Sprinkle each slice evenly with the kosher salt, making sure the slices are all covered. Let the colander drain in a sink or over a bowl for 30 minutes. The salt extracts some of the juices from the eggplant and particularly, the bitterness. You'll see the liquid that strains out is dark brownish. That's bitterness you're removing! Lightly rinse the salt off the eggplant slices and wrap each slice in paper towels and squeeze dry. Get as much moisture out without damaging the eggplant. Spread the slices out flat on a cooling rack and let them sit another 30 minutes.
2) Light a grill our stove burner with grill pan and preheat. Lightly brush a layer of olive oil on the eggplant slices and grill until soft and nicely blackened, about 4-5 minutes each side. Remove the eggplant from the grill. In a small skillet, toast the pine nuts until golden brown and fragrant, bout 3-5 minutes.
3) Add the eggplant, red chile pepper and pine nuts to a food processor and pulse into a thick paste. Add in the lemon juice and ground black pepper and puree until smooth. Taste and adjust any seasoning. You may need a pinch of salt since the only salt we used was in the purging at the beginning. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil, while the processor is running until the dip is soft and creamy.
4) Scrape the dip into a serving bowl and serve with olive oil crisp bread or flatbreads immediately.
Oh, this sounds so good. I LIKE eggplant, and particularly baba ghanoush (don't think I spelled that right), so anything similar would likely be a good thing. Will have to give it a try. I've printed it out for my "to-try" stack.
Posted by: Carolyn T at tastingspoons.com | June 06, 2009 at 04:03 PM
Carolyn, I am sure you'll love it as much as we did. Great, give it a try and let me know.
Posted by: Stephanie Beack | June 07, 2009 at 09:04 AM
So, you don't remove the skin of the eggplant before putting in the food processor?
Posted by: Kelly Rainwater | June 12, 2009 at 02:01 AM
Kelly, no I don't remove the skin. The skin also loses its bitterness in the purging process and therefore I like to keep it on for the extra flecks of color and the way the skin gets extra smoky, for maximum flavor.
Posted by: Stephanie Beack | July 03, 2009 at 03:56 PM
Sounds wonderful. I've never attempted to make my own, so I must give this recipe a try.
Posted by: Katie | July 11, 2009 at 12:45 AM