So when you go to a middle eastern restaurant or your neighborhood falafel joint, what is your go to order?  For me, it’s usually Baba ganoush – the classic Middle Eastern smoked eggplant condiment that is sometimes made with pomegranate, cumin and olive oil.  I really like it better than its more popular companion hummus, as its smoky flavor is very unique and savory.  Mostly though, I think it’s just the eggplant itself that I love.  So when I saw these two gorgeous Italian eggplants at Whole Foods the other day – I thought that making some sort of dip or pesto was the way to go.

This recipe was somewhat inspired from an eggplant dip that Elise, Aimee and I sampled at Stone Hearth Pizza, an excellent pizza place in the Boston area.  They use a bunch of cumin in their dip (or so it tasted like) – so I too that advice and used some cumin seed that I toasted and then ground in a mortar and pestle. 

Taking some more ideas from traditional Genovese basil pesto, I also decided to add some pine nuts, lemon and a bit of Parmesan.

The result paired really well with the Salmon that I picked up at the fish market, but it left me wishing that I had made some more to have with carrots, pita or tortilla chips.  One of the secrets of this recipe has to be the roasted garlic (been a theme for me lately), which makes this dip really creamy, as well as helps that flavor.  In any case, I’ll definitely be making this again and probably buying some eggplant and spinning this up and filling up empty hummus containers.  This stuff would also go awesome with other types of fish or even on a roast beef sandwich.  Give it a shot!

• 2 large Italian or other type of Eggplant
• 5 large garlic cloves
• small handful parsley – stems removed
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice – fresh squeezed
• 1/3 c. pine nuts – toasted in a small skillet
• 2 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese – fresh grated
• 1 tsp. cumin – toasted and crushed cumin seeds are best!!
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 6-8 pomegranate seeds (optional) – I’ll try using them when I make this again!

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Prepare the eggplant by poking a few holes in each with a knife and placing them whole in a small roasting plan to just fit them.  In the same roasting pan, take the garlic cloves and place them in a small square of aluminum foil and drizzle a touch of olive oil on them.  Wrap the cloves up in the foil and place in the roasting pan alongside the eggplant.  Place in the oven and roast for around 45 minutes to an hour, or until the eggplant’s skin is wrinkled and the insides are soft.

Once the eggplant is done, remove it from the oven and unwrap the garlic from the foil.  Peel the garlic from its skins and place the soft cloves in your food processor.  Once the eggplant has cooled enough to touch, peel the skin off (if should peel off easily), chop it roughly and place in the food processor too.

Add the parsley, toasted pine nuts, lemon juice, olive oil, Parmesan and salt and pepper and blend the ingredients together until almost smooth. 

Stop the food pro and add in the cumin and more salt and pepper as needed.  Serve on top or under a good protein like salmon or halibut or alongside home made pita chips.

I decided to serve it with pan roasted salmon and parsley oil, which really enhanced the flavor of the eggplant.  Here’s that little bonus recipe – totally great with so many things:

• large bunch of parsley – leaves only, stems removed and washed
• 3/4 – 1 c. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice (not traditional, but I love its addition!)

Put parsley and lemon juice in a blender and slowly drizzle olive oil in while the blender is running.  Should turn into smooth oil with an awesome bright green color.