Baba Ganouj Take 2

I think I first had Baba Ganouj when I lived in Boston in 2003 and tried Shwarma King. Growing up, I don't think there was anything like Shwarma. I am pretty sure I first had it in a wrap, probably with falafel. The first time I made it myself was for a Grad School International Food Potluck. Yes, the white girl from VT brought Baba ganouj. The recipe I used came from an Eating Well magazine, so I am pretty sure I picked that recipe because I had a free copy of Eating Well lying around and there was the recipe with very few ingredients. Score!

I made another batch of Baba Ganouj Tuesday night. I used eggplant that had been in my fridge for two days, much fresher than the batch I made the other day. This time I cut the eggplant in half, massaged the skin with Olive oil and put it cut side down on a baking sheet. I baked at 350 for 30minutes, cooled it on the counter then scooped out the filling. I ended up eating the skin, it was really tasty!

In the last 15minutes of cooking I tossed a few garlic pieces on the tray to bake. I used one of these in my dip.

I blended 1 tablespoon of Tahini with 1 TBS of lemon juice and 1 clove of the garlic with the eggplant with my hand mixer. Oh boy it was good. Nice a creamy and smooth. Good blend of flavors and not too much garlic this time!

This is tasting really good as a dressing for my tabouleh over romaine lettuce and stuffed in Joseph's low carb pita. I stretched it for lunch all week.

Baba Ganouj or is it Ganoush?

For Baba Ganouj I used
Two small eggplants from last week
1 tablespoon Tahini paste
2 tablespoon lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

I peeled the eggplant, cut into 1inch pieces, salted, then tossed in olive oil. I put this in the oven for 30minutes. Tried to toss them once while cooking (that was after 25minutes, would aim for 15minutes next time). I took them out and let them cool.

I put the eggplant into my hand mixer container. Then added the paste, lemon juice, garlic and Olive oil (1-2 tablespoons). Used my new found hand mixer to make it nice and smooth. I think there was too much garlic, but too late to take it out this time.

For lunch, I also made Tabouleh. I used a box of Near East Tabouleh mix. It was ready to expire! Probably would taste better using fresh ingredients. I mixed in one of my tomatoes, some olive oil and lemon juice. I think this will taste good with the eggplant spread on a pita with some romaine lettuce. I hope it does because this is my lunch plan for the week!

Beet hummus

First, the ratatouille is amazing. I just want to eat it all at once! I ate it for lunch today with a French roll, grilled chicken and an apple. I was hungry all afternoon, so maybe tomorrow I'll eat the lentils with my lunch too.

Tonight I made an easy omelet for supper and stirred in some ratatouille and parm cheese. So good!

With a full belly I made beet hummus.  I took out my Kitchen Aid Hand mixer. This was a gift from my aunt. I used it for the first time tonight, took off the plastic wrap and everything. The Kitchen Aid has more than one attachment, that's a plus! It was a little tiring to make hummus this way, by hand, but in all, probably easier than doing it with my bad food processor. I could also make it easier next time by cutting the beet pieces smaller I used this recipe:
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/beet_hummus/

1/2 pound of beets is about 1 medium beet. I used all I had left, which was 1.5 beets (11ounces).  I added three TBS of Tahini sauce, 1/4 of fresh squeezed lemon juice, 1 garlic clove, 1 TBS of zest and 1 TBS of cumin. It tastes okay. I think there is too much cumin, and probably needs more lemon juice, which I don't have. All in all, worth bringing to work for lunch.