Baba Ganoush

(Eggplant Dip)

Ingredients

  • 1 large eggplant (about 600g), cut in half lengthwise
  • Olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons tahini paste
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon finely grated garlic
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 tablespoon minced parsley

Instructions

  1. Adjust oven rack 4 to 5 inches below the broiler and heat broiler.
  2. Brush the cut sides of the eggplant with olive oil. Set the eggplant cut-side down on a foil-lined baking sheet.
  3. Broil until the eggplant halves are very wrinkled and very tender when pressed, about 40 minutes.
  4. Using a big spoon and scrape the flesh from the eggplant into a colander, allowing it to sit for 3 minutes.
  5. Blend or mix together roasted eggplant, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, salt and cumin.
  6. Stir in fresh parsley and drizzle with a splash of olive oil.

 Helpful Hints:

  • Have fun with this dip and make it your own!  Try adding roasted garlic rather than raw.  Mint rather than parsley.  Add more lemon juice to give it more zing!
  • You can also grill the eggplants rather than roast them.  Instead of slicing them lengthwise, leave them whole.  Rotate over grill until the flesh is very tender, blackened and wrinkled. (Collapsing in on itself).
  • Tahini paste is ground sesame seed.  You can find it in the international aisle at the grocery store.  It’s also used in hummus.
  • Try garnishing with pomegranate seeds.
  • I use foil in this recipe rather than parchment paper, because there’s a chance that parchment paper will burn under the heat of a broiler.

Tzatziki

Ingredients

  • 1 medium Ontario Greenhouse Seedless cucumber
  • 1 container plain Greek yogurt (2 cups/500 mL)
  • 1 clove garlic, pressed or finely minced
  • 1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) lemon zest
  • 1/2 lemon, juiced (about 2 tbsp/30 mL)
  • 2 tbsp (30 mL) finely chopped fresh dill
  • salt to taste (approx 1 tsp/5 mL kosher salt)
  • pepper to taste
  • 4 tsp (20 mL) olive oil

Instructions

  1. Wash the cucumber well.
  2. Half the cucumber length-wise and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Grate cucumber and place in a sieve. Sprinkle generously with salt and let sit in the sieve for about 10 minutes to draw out extra moisture. Squeeze out at around 3 tbsp of water, and set aside.
  3. Add Greek yogurt, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, dill and stir. Season salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil.

Notes

Our recipe is thick so calls for the soft seeds to be scooped out. Please note that the seeds are edible so this step is optional.

Recipes courtesy Chef D