The [Baba] Ghanoush is Loose

I always love a good dip...French onion, buffalo chicken, salsa, hummus, spinach & artichoke...the list could go on and on.  The great thing is that these dips are usually pretty easy to make at home, and you can tweak them to your preferred tastes.

Baba ghanoush is another one of my favorites, and you won't believe how easy it is to whip up.  We had a bunch of Turkish eggplants from our share and this was the perfect use for them.  I started by cutting off the stems, and cutting each eggplant in half.  Drizzle a bit of olive oil, salt & pepper and each half, and place cut side down on a baking sheet.  Along with the eggplant, I threw a few cloves of garlic onto the pan as well.  Pop these babies into the oven and let them roast until the eggplants are tender and the garlic has that nice, roasty sweetness.  This took about 30 minutes for me.

Once they're done, let them cool a bit so you can handle them.  Then just scoop out all the meat into your food processor.  Throw in the garlic, and add the rest of your ingredients; equal parts tahini and olive oil, and a splash of lemon juice.  Then just blend it all together.  If you don't have a food processor, you can easily use an immersion blender to puree everything.  Add salt & pepper to taste, and you're done!  I went a little crazy with the garlic, and it was a bit overpowering, so we added a little extra olive oil and some paprika to tone down the garlic flavor.

Then we just cut some pitas into wedges, brushed them with olive oil, sprinkled on some salt and pepper, and popped them in the oven to crisp up.  Voila!  Homemade pita chips!

The perfect vessel for your baba ghanoush!