Thursday, November 13, 2008

Eggplant Puree with Walnuts

Along with the many pounds of greens from our CSA last week, we also received a lovely eggplant. It could have been sautéed with the greens or included in a pasta dish at some point in the week, but I wanted to let it be the star. Baba ghanoush is always good, but I found a slightly different idea on Epicurious. This is a version of the Greek traditional eggplant spread known as melitzanosalata. Walnuts are used here instead of tahini.

By halving the recipe, the one eggplant made just enough puree for a snack for two with raw vegetables and toasted, sliced, whole grain ficelle. The green pepper was also from the farm, but the orange cauliflower came from the grocery store. The puree was fresh tasting, and the walnut flavor was just as good if not better than sesame. And, the recipe’s tip about using just a touch of sweetness worked well. The slight eggplant bitterness disappeared after a half teaspoon of honey was incorporated.

I drizzled a little olive oil on top and spattered about a bit of chopped Greek oregano for serving. A note with the recipe states that this spread hails from the northern part of Greece and that country bread is traditionally dipped into it. Any toasted bread would be good with this, especially pita, but the whole grain ficelle worked nicely with the eggplant and walnut flavors.


10 comments:

  1. I know what would go great with this: my taste buds. This looks great and sounds better...if thats possible

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  2. That tray looks great...I love eggplant. -E

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  3. lisa,
    I swear, I made an eggplant relish last night as an experiment!
    I love eggplant prepared any way.

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  4. Great blog. This recipe looks very inviting. We have something similar in Turkey which is not unusual since Greece and Turkey are neighbors and share similar food culture. I think anything with eggplant tastes great.

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  5. Wow - I bet this was rather tasty. I'm in love with the pictures! Just in love!

    -DTW
    www.everydaycookin.blogspot.com

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  6. I love eggplant - and am a huge fan of baba ghanoush. So,this looks like a great dip. Perfect with all the other veg!

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  7. like lo, i'm a huge fan of baba ghanoush. the texture of your dip is incredibel--all i need is a spoon (or finger...). :)

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  8. Eggplant and walnuts are a nice combo!

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  9. This is an interesting dip, different from the usual baba ghanoush. Bookmarked: thanks!

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  10. This looks really delicious.

    Since you are trying different ethnic influences using eggplant, check out an Indian twist: you add garlic, ginger, cilantro and cumin: really good!

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