Roasted eggplant with green tahini sauce

I found a pomegranate at the store, and that immediately made me think of a recipe from Ottolenghi: the cookbook, that was garnished with pomegranate seeds. Obviously, you can't make a recipe until you have the right garnish! Anyway, it's also eggplant season, so I thought maybe this would be a nice new way to cook eggplant. It ended up only getting a so-so Ed-rating, because the eggplant was too cooked through. He said it was good, but only because of the sauce and the pomegranate seeds. Ah well, I liked it. Also, it was nice and simple to make, always a bonus.


Roasted eggplant with green tahini sauce
1 eggplant
olive oil
kosher salt
1C tahini
1 lemon
1-2 handfuls spinach or parsley
1/2 pomegranate
Basil leaves for garnish

Start by preheating your oven to 425F. Cut the eggplant into wedges - I cut it in half width-wise, and then each of those halves in half, so that I had four half-cylinders. The fatter end I cut into four wedges each, the skinny end was three wedges. Then brush olive oil on all the white parts of the eggplant, and stand upright on it's skin on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with kosher salt, and bake for 20-35 minutes, until it's browning.

Ed's suggestion was to grill the eggplant, so that it didn't get as mushy, but still got brown. That would work, if we had a grill.

For the sauce, mix 1C of tahini with the juice of a lemon, a few handfuls of spinach or parsley (the original recipe called for parsley, but I didn't have any, and spinach is also green). Add ~1/2 tsp kosher salt, and a tablespoon or so of water. Put all this into a food processor, and like three seconds later you'll have the sauce.

For the pomegranate, I've discovered that the best and easiest way to get the seeds out is also great for releasing frustration. Cut the pomegranate in half, and then hold it, open-side down, over a large bowl. Take a wooden spoon, and whack the skin of the pomegranate with the back of the spoon, and the seeds all start popping out. This is immensely satisfying.

Once the eggplant is done, take it out of the oven and arrange on a big platter. Pour some sauce over the top, garnish liberally with pomegranate seeds, and top with some basil leaves, if you have them.


I should mention that while the eggplant only got so-so reviews, we were eating this with some porkchops that Ed had just picked up from Carl's Sausage Kitchen, up in Lynn. He's been in Lynn a lot, because that's where we're holding an orienteering meet this fall, and he's the meet director. Anyway, he came back with two pork chops that were cut super duper thick, and braised them in apple cider and a little smoked maple syrup. They came out utterly delicious. Most and tender! Also, because they're cut thick and with the bone on, you basically have a rib to suck on once you've eaten all the meat.

Below is a series of photos of Ed in various states of utter contentment, sucking on a rib.