Easy roasted eggplant with tahini drizzle
The Story
For me, the easiest way to make vegetables taste delicious without having to invest a lot active preparation time is to roast them in the oven. You chop up the vegetable, in this case, eggplant, season it how you like, throw it in the oven, set a timer, and cook with little intervention. This method works on many vegetables, but eggplant can be roasted in myriad ways and come out well every time.
In this case, my inspiration is one of my favorite dips, baba ganoush. This Levantine masterpiece is the ultimate love letter to eggplant, combining smokey fire-roasted eggplant with garlic, lemon, tahini, and lots of olive oil. Since I love eggplant in truly any form (a controversial opinion, I know), I took the flavor profile of this classic dish to spice up a simple oven-roasted eggplant.
For my version, I peel and cube the eggplant, season it with Zatar, and dress it up with a tahini drizzle (with balsamic instead of lemon to play up the eggplant’s natural sweetness). Scattered with lots of herbs to finish, this eggplant dish would be great alongside meat or fish, plated atop yogurt and scooped up with fluffy pita as an appetizer, or even in a grain bowl (like my brown rice bowl with a fried egg and vegetables).
As a side note, I know it seems like I’m using a lot of olive oil to cook the eggplant. Keep in mind that eggplant soaks up oil like a sponge, and if you don’t put enough, it winds up drying out instead of browning evenly. If you’re weary of that much oil, feel free to start with less and check on the eggplant 15 minutes or so into the cooking process. If it seems like the pieces of eggplant aren’t roasting properly, add the rest of the oil.
Difficulty: 1 on a scale of 1-5
Active time to prepare: 10 minutes
Total time to prepare: 1 hour
Serves: 4
The Ingredients
3 medium/small Italian eggplants (try to get longer thinner ones to avoid excess seeds in the middle)
1/2 cup/108 g olive oil
1 tsp./2 g red chili flakes
1 Tbsp./ 6 g Zatar
1 1/2 tsp./3 g salt
1/2 tsp./1 g cracked black pepper
3 Tbsp./45 g tahini
3 Tbsp./45 g ice water
1/2 Tbsp./7.5 g balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp./13 g olive oil
1/4 cup/14 g fresh mint
1/4 cup/14 g fresh dill
The Recipe
Preheat the oven to 230° C/450° F.
Peel and cut the eggplant into 1-inch cubes.
Place them on a large baking sheet in one layer, drizzle with the olive oil, and season with the red chili flakes, Zatar, salt, and black pepper.
Roast the eggplant for 50 minutes to 1 hour, turning occasionally, until golden brown.
In a small bowl combine the tahini, ice, water, and balsamic vinegar, and whisk to combine. Drizzle in the 1 tbsp of olive oil, continuing to whisk.
Assembly:
Drizzle the tahini mixture over the eggplant, and scatter the herbs on top.
DO AHEAD: The eggplant can be roasted a day in advance. Reheat in the oven and top with tahini and herbs before serving.
LEFTOVERS: The eggplant will stay good in the refrigerator for 5 days.
