My darling eggplant with luscious tehina dressing

Growing up in the USA, eggplant was a weird veggie nobody I knew ate or knew how to cook.  Even when our family went out to eat in an “Israeli restaurant” over 40 years ago, no one in the family would’ve ordered the eggplant in any shape or form.  When in college, eggplant parmigiana became a popular dish and I began to sample the purply black vegetable.

It’s amazing to me today looking back, since I now truly adore eggplant, not perhaps in ANY shape or form, but nearly all styles.

For years I’ve tried to get my eggplant grilled to my satisfaction and have played with many versions of cooking it.  Brush it with olive oil and grill, left in its whole shape, cut in pieces, on the stovetop (a really messy version) etc.

I am very pleased with my latest version, much less messy and quite consistently good in outcome.  It’s not at all time consuming in prep, but does take time to cook.  No matter, it is worth it.  I pour off the bitter juice at the end, no need for the messy and time consuming salting and rinsing and patting.

What is eggplant without tehina by its side?  For me, it’s sacrilegious not to pair them together but it can be served separately.

Consistently Good Roasted Eggplant

2 medium eggplants  – A word or 5 about eggplants.  Yes, there is a certain art to picking them.  Try to pick lighter weight ones and I prefer them longer and skinny in shape to the rotund ones,  they simply cook more evenly.  When we have a proper bbq on our Weber grill, I love to throw them on, they pick up a lovely smokiness but for day to day, the oven works fine.

oil spray (olive is great but regular veggie spray is fine OR olive oil

For this I like to use disposable pans, forgive me environment watchers, it’s less messy altogether. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  This is NOT broil, but rather on bake, this is roasting the eggplant. Wash the eggplants and pat dry.  Chop off their heads (the hard green tops) and slice lengthwise from top to bottom leaving you with 2 long halves.  Spray both halves with the oil spray on all sides till coated.  If using olive oil, brush lightly on both sides of the eggplant. Place face down (that is, white flesh down) in oiled (also with spray) disposable pan. Pop into hot oven for 30 minutes, open oven, flip eggplants over to the other side and roast an additional 30 minutes.  Check after 20 or so minutes by gently pressing down on the eggplant.  If it gives easily it is done.  Better to err on longer than shorter because underdone eggplant is the pits.  Let cool and you will see dark brown juices in the pan.  Carefully pour off these juices since this IMHO is bitter and nasty and gives eggplant a bad name.

There are many different things you can do with this basic recipe.  Some people leave the peel on, some people remove it.  This is a personal preference, I keep the peel on.  You can whirl it with mayo, finely chopped onion and salt in the food processor for an eggplant “caviar” spread.  You can cut it in slices, add chopped pickles, oil and a bit of vinegar for a first course to put on bread, pita, challah or crackers.    You can whirl the eggplant with techina in the food processor for baba ganoush.  This is also yummy or, you can pour tehina over it for my absolute favorite version.  And, here is the techina recipe needed.

Luscious Techina Dip and Dressing

The techina of my youth and still what you find in most felafel stands is this thin, pallid condiment that barely recalls the tasty dip I’m referring to.  The first techina I ever ate that made my heart zing with delight was at my DH’s cousin’s house, known as Cousin Yanka.  She ran a little restaurant in the tachana merkazit (central bus station)  in Tel Aviv that was kosher l’mehadrin. She was an exceptional lady whom I greatly admired and a talented cook.  She made her techina thick, almost like hummus in consistency and that changed the way I perceived techina.  It is not merely a condiment but rather a food which you can eat with myriad things.

Okay, a shortcut.  I’ve mentioned before my devotion to the pre-apportioned frozen parsley, dill, garlic, even ginger etc. cleaned herbs in little squares or a new shape like a large pill.  These are not quite as good as fresh but the problem with fresh herbs is that now that it’s mainly me and DH at home, the herbs wither and die away ne’er mind how well I tenderly soak, wash and wrap in either paper or real towels.  So, I have enthusiastically embraced this pretty darn good version which takes the hassle out of much of my prep.   Embrace them, I say, and ease your prep.

Techina is a food that I have no need to find an excuse to eat.  It’s incredibly healthy, loaded with iron and calcium but even more important, luscious!  Umyum – you can use it as a dip for veggie crudites, as a dressing for a nicely chopped Israeli salad and of course, as a partner to eggplant, paired harmoniously.

1 1/4 cup whole grain sesame seed paste (you can use the regular kind but may need less water)

3/4 – 1 cup water (adding gradually till the techina reaches the thickness consistency you desire)

juice of one small lemon or 1/2 a large one

2 small squares or one big lozenge pill shaped chopped parsley

1  teaspoon of salt

1 square (approximately one clove’s worth) chopped garlic

Since I make this so often, I can tell you there is a difference between making this by hand and making it in the food processor.  I use the steel blade and somehow we can always tell when it’s made in the processor.  It’s indefinably better.  Go know.  Put in all the ingredients, start with less water.  Whirl in the processor and check consistency.  We like this as a thick cream – not the watery versions that felafel stores serve.  It’s almost as thick as hummus and remember, the consistency thins as you spread or mix it with other ingredients that have liquid in it.