Looks Aren't Everything... for example...

Baba Ghanouj. It isn’t pretty, but it is very tasty. I made a batch this evening, and realized that it isn’t the most photogenic food. Like many things, looks aren’t everything!

I hope everyone made it through humpday. We saw the sun today for the first time in several days, and it perked me right up! All the gloomy days just make the sun seem sunnier! I had a good day at work, and then came home to the rest of my egg salad from last night’s batch. I’m going to have to make some more. I forgot how much I like it! I also came home to an eggplant:

I’ve had plans for this eggplant for several days now, and I finally got the chance to turn him into Baba Ghanouj. If you are a fan of hummus, I think that you might really dig this dish too. The recipe I use is not my own. It comes from Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey and Lebanon by Claudia Roden. I think this is one of the prettiest cookbooks on my shelf:

If you are in the market for a cookbook full of fresh, interesting and generally healthy recipes, I have to recommend this one. I’ve made several things from this book, modifying a few recipes to reduce the amount of fat, and I’ve loved them all. I always divide the Baba Ghanouj recipe in half, but you should know that the proportions below are easily doubled. The ingredients are basically straight from the book, but I’ve written out the instructions based on the way I prepare it. 

Eggplant and Tahini Dip “Baba Ghanouj”

from Arabesque by Claudia Roden, p. 248

Ingredients:

1 eggplant

1 1/2 Tbsp. of tahini (Sesame Paste)

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup plain, nonfat Greek yogurt

1 garlic clove, crushed

1/4 tsp. salt

 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

chopped parsley

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Prick the skin of the eggplant four or five times with a fork, and place the eggplant on a baking sheet. Roast it in the oven for 45-55 minutes, depending on the size of the eggplant. It should look shriveled and be soft. Remove the eggplant from the oven and allow it to cool. When it has cooled, remove the skin and place the flesh of the eggplant into a strainer or sieve. When removing the skin, I just sort of tear the skin apart and scrape the flesh off of the skin with the side of a fork or knife. Press out as much liquid as possible, and then use a spoon to chop/mash/pulverize the eggplant while it is still in the sieve, allowing the juices to continue to escape.

In a bowl, beat the tahini and the lemon juice. I just used a fork for this. It may take a minute for it to really turn into a nice paste. After it becomes a smooth paste, beat in the yogurt. Add the mashed eggplant, the garlic and the salt and beat it vigorously with the fork. Adjust the salt and garlic to taste. I like a lot of garlic so I used 2 cloves instead of one.

Ms. Roden suggests spreading this onto a flat serving dish, drizzling it with the olive oil and topping it with a sprinkle of parsley. I’ve certainly had it that way when dining out, and I’d do that if I had guests. Since it is just me (and since most of it was going in the fridge for later), I mixed it all together in another piece of my retro pyrex that is made for fridge storage. I went ahead and mixed in the olive oil after snapping the photo too. Oh, and I didn’t have any parsley, but I’m not going to lose any sleep over that. If I happen to go to the store tomorrow, I might pick some up because it is kind of nice on top, but it isn’t necessary. 

This makes 6 unofficial 1 point servings.

You’ve seen the eggplant before roasting. Here’s the after:

I also wanted to show you a photo of the eggplant being mashed in the sieve. It was really pretty bland looking so I posed my little chef smurf nearby to add a little hit of smurfy color:

He tasted the final product and thought it was quite good. I have to agree with him! I have some yummy veggies that are going to go very well with this tomorrow. Tomorrow is a food diary day, so expect to see a delicious pile of this glop! Seriously, if you are looking for a way to reward yourself for accomplishing a healthy goal or if you are just looking for new books to add to your collection, I really have to recommend Arabesque! 

Now, I’m up past my bedtime so I need to make some tea and head to bed with my book. I have a little bit of a cough, and I think that peppermint tea may really hit the spot. Good night, kids!