Baba Ghanoush

When I brainstorm a list of things I like eggplant in, I can only come up with two.  There is eggplant parmesan, and baba ghanoush.  I tried the parmesan the last time that I had eggplant, and it was fine.  Not delicious.  Actually, to be quite honest, I didn't finish it.  It's just so... fried.  And you've got to cut it up really thin and cook it really well and then I still would just rather have delicious pasta with delicious tomato sauce and skip the eggplant.  So, I had five eggplants from last week and this week and I so I moved on to Recipe Option # 2.  What a good choice.

The only reservation I had about making baba was turning on the oven in August, but I broiled it, and I also made Mac & Cheese last night ("southwest" style, with onions and peppers and corn - should've put in beans) so I sort of had to rethink that reservation.

I pierced the eggplants and put it on a baking sheet and broiled it until after I had realized it smelled like something was burning, and then I checked and they were all mushy - perfect.  I think I was supposed to put olive oil on them before I cooked them, but I don't see the point.

I mushed up the innards, and mixed it with a lot of tahini, some lemon juice, salt and pepper.  I think I also was supposed to put in more olive oil during this step, but it didn't need any.  Some parsley would be nice, but I wasn't going to go buy it, and it tastes delicious enough without it.

I didn't have any vegetables I like to dip in things - like carrots - so I bought some Triscuits.  In retrospect, I do have cucumbers, but I don't like raw cucumburs.  However, I'm sure they'd be delicious with this baba.