Dana's Fire Roasted Eggplant

Last summer, CSAer Dana Kraus showed me how to roast eggplants directly over the gas flame on the stove top. You just place the eggplant right on the burner (like roasting peppers), and turn it (with tongs) when skin goes from purple to black until the whole thing is black and soft and collapsed. It is surprisingly quick – 20 minutes maybe, depending on the size. I would imagine you could do the same thing on the grill or in a hot oven.

Once the eggplant cools enough to handle, you can peel off the skin with your fingers and it easily breaks into strips perfect for adding to pasta (especially good with roasted peppers) or turning into baba ghanouj, a smoky dip.

To make baba ghanouj, put your roasted eggplant (without the peel) in a blender with 1½ tablespoons olive oil, a clove of minced garlic, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 2 tablespoons tahini, 2 ½ tablespoons lemon juice, salt and cayenne pepper. Blend and add more of any of the ingredients to taste.