My husband came home yesterday. He has been away for three weeks for work and so we are in celebration mode tonight, going to the work Christmas party which means I am taking a foodie break in my kitchen. Someone is cooking for me tonight! Before he came home I had to be bad in the kitchen one more time. Actually I also had bacon-wrapped scallops the other night but shhh! Don’t tell!
My husband absolutely hates eggplant. No matter how I many times I have hidden it in our dinner, his sensitive tastebuds discover it. I am not a huge fan of it myself but I do love Baba Ganoush and have never made it myself before. I found an easy recipe by Rachael Ray and I edited it so I ended up with enough dip just for one, in case I did not like it and so I could eat it all up before he comes home!
I split one eggplant in half, brushed it with olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepepr and put it under the broiler flesh side down for 20 minutes. I let it cool and then put the flesh in a blender with one grated clove of garlic, a small squeeze of lemon and 1 tbsp of tahini paste. Delish! But I had to eat it with something and thought, why don’t I make my own pita chips? This is a foodie project I have been meaning to take on for a long time but never had so of course, I had to make some!
I bought these whole wheat pitas on sale, cut them into wedges, misted them with some olive oil and sprinkled with salt, pepper and smoked paprika.
I baked them at 375F for 8-10 minutes. Watch them, they can burn, some got scorched. The best part? They are super crunchy without being deep fried! Now I want to make some homemade hummus for my leftover chips.
Think of how much oil and salt I avoided by not eating packaged baba ganoush and pita chips! A lot of supermarket baba ganoush has mayonnaise in it and the pita chips in the stores are sometimes deep friend. No thanks! I have a cute little black dress to wear tonight, I just say no to those extra unhealthy calories by making my own food in my own kitchen.
I just love the sound of the word Baba Ganoush! The actual dip — meh, I prefer hummus. Have a great time at the Xmas party tonight!
I got to try baba ganoush and hummus in one of my classes! They weren’t bad. Not my favorite, but not bad. Of course because I’m hungry right now your pictures are making my mouth water.
I am not a fan of eggplant, either – there is something about the texture that really turns me off – but I do like baba ganoush.
Hope you had a great time at your party!
@ Breitenbush the cooks occ. make Eggplant Parmesan & that’s yummy – I don’t cook with it a lot either, but in the summer got eggplants in my CSA share, & used it in Rattatoui several times.
Hope your party was fun! Had frozen pipes (the first time for me in this well insulated 100 yr old house!) & my son-in law got them thawed & insulated 🙂 My son provided tech support (via the phone) . . . . my daughter & I are ready for WARMER WEATHER! (OK, only about 20* F here – could be a lot worse!)
Here’s a link to an E P recipe http://elise.com/recipes/archives/000220eggplant_parmesan.php
How perfect!!! I have eggplant that I got in my organic box and I was wondering what to do with it. I have 2! Got one last week:) I will try this. I wonder what you could substitute for the tahini. Don’t have any. Suppose I COULD go out and buy some.
Have a fun time tonight. “little black dress” always makes me think of cocktail parties and mingling.
Mmmm tasty!