Easy Home Cooked Baba Ghanoush

I need to be honest.  

I'm just a home cook, posting meals I make at home online, for whoever to read.  

Everything I know, or seem to know, I've learned myself.  I ask questions when I'm around good cooks.  I watch a lot of cooking shows.  I read a lot of cookbooks.  I pay attention to how things are made.  That's it.  Nothing fancy.  

Sometimes I feel like an odd-ball, looking for ways to make everything myself instead of buying it already made.  Even if it means screwing up a bunch of batches before figuring it out.  Essentially spending a ridiculous amount of time in the kitchen and, in some cases, spending more money learning how to do it than it would have cost to just buy the package.  But I love it.  And it does pay off.

Years ago, I had no idea what Baba Ghanoush was.  And then, I thought you could only buy it in stores, never make it at home.  I've thought that with many things. Here's another one of those things, where yes, I spent more money and time figuring out how to make it than it would have cost me to buy it in the store.  But hey - I controlled the ingredients, I learned something new, I could easily replicate it again and again, and the best part, I found a use for eggplant that most people enjoy.  :)     

Baba Ghanoush:

Ingredients:
2 medium Eggplants
1/4 cup tahini (Sesame seed butter)
3 cloves garlic
Juice of half lime
1 tbsp olive oil
pinch sea salt/pepper

What to do:
1) Preheat oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit.  Cut the eggplants in half from top to bottom.  Poke the skin a few times with a fork and then place them, skin side up, on a large baking sheet/pan.  Drizzle a very small amount of oil over the skins and rub over the tops.  Bake for 20-30 minutes, until the skins blacken and deflate, and flesh is really soft.  

2)  Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.  Remove the skin by scraping out the flesh into a food processor.  

3) Add all other ingredients to the food processor and blend away! Pulse until combined and smooth.  Taste test and add more salt, or perhaps even a bit of cumin, if needed/wanted more spice. 

4) Scoop into a container and drizzle a bit of oil on top.  Cover and refrigerator.  For best tasting baba ghanoush, let sit in the refrigerator about 3 hours before serving to let the flavours mix well! Enjoy with pita or crusty bread, fresh veggies, whatever.  Yum!