I decided we needed a weekend away from cream cheese based dips. Enter: Baba Ghanoush. I think I first had baba ghanoush at My Big Fat Greek Restaurant at least 5 years ago. I’m not a Greek food expert (obviously), but it seems as though they add chick peas to theirs.

Next time I make this recipe I would add some chopped kalamata olives into the dip in addition to putting some on top.

Baba Ghanoush (makes about 2 1/2 cups)
Ingredients:

1 eggplant
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup tahini (I found it at Fresh & Easy for about $5)
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 Tbs olive oil

Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly grease a baking sheet with cooking spray.

Poke holes into the skin of the eggplant with a fork. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until roasted and soft. Place eggplant into a large bowl of cold water for a few minutes. Pat dry and peel away skin.

Place eggplant, lemon juice, tahini, and garlic in an electric blender, and puree. If it gets stuck (it’s pretty thick), stop the blender and mix around with a spoon. Repeat until well pureed.

Put eggplant mixture into a bowl and slowly mix in olive oil. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and kalamata olives.

Adapted From: All Recipes