Sunday, August 15, 2010

Guilt-Free Snack Alert!

My farmer gave me three beautiful eggplants in my share this week. Aren’t they so beautiful? I honestly feel bad eating her veggies sometimes.

One is called a Fairy Eggplant and one is called an Orient Express. Guess which is which! I’ll randomly choose one of the correct answers and cook the winna some dinna!

So Lyd said all three were delicious when cooked whole on the grill. Yum! I was cooking for one this Thursday, so I fired up the George Foreman and let those babies char while I unpacked the rest of my vegetables. I prepped my basil for it’s ultimate destination: pesto! (Recipe to follow soon.) I photographed my battalion of tomatoes so I could make you folks some sauce soon (yes, you get that recipe too!) I was so caught up in my “artwork,” I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard a loud POP!

I pulled my eggplant off the grill and discovered this.

Cleaning up the mess, I licked the spatula (like you do) and discovered a heartbreak: I’m not wild about eggplant by itself. Secretly, I’ve always known this. It’s one of the things that made me a terrible vegetarian (possibly the most anemic year and a half of my life).

So my eggplant has exploded, I’m not in love with the flavor, and by now I’m starving. I need to lock it up. No, you lock it up! Then it hits me…

BABA GANOUSH!

Into the blender:

1 can chickpeas (drained and rinsed)

3 or 4 cloves of garlic (or 7 or 8 if you’re like meJ)

2 T olive oil

2T lemon juice

2t sea salt

3 small eggplant, grilled, skins removed






I enjoyed mine with Trader Joe’s Flaxseed and Veggie tortilla chips (with some Identity Crisis tortilla chips thrown in there too).

Seriously, make this and love yourself. Then send me your pics!

2 comments:

  1. Hey Carissa,

    That looks yummy. I think I'll try it since I have eggplant in my garden.
    Mrs. D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hurray! I can't wait to hear how it turns out!

    ReplyDelete