Roasted Eggplant Dip

 

 

The quickest, simplest way to enjoy eggplant is this roasted eggplant dip recipe I discovered in college.  I've always feared eggplant as too complicated after hearing stories of salting and pressing--this recipe is decidedly unfussy.  I will be forever grateful as this dip got me past thinking of the aubergine vegetable as something only found in restaurants. 

This dip is a nice compliment to hummus for appetizers.  I also use it as a sandwich spread with cheese or hard boiled eggs.  The overwhelming flavors of lemon and salt embedded in the kelp give such a surprising twist to the earthy roasted eggplant.  I've normally made it in a blender, with lots of little parts needing to be washed afterward.  Today I plopped all the ingredients in my Pyrex casserole dish and used my immersion stick blender to do the job, quickly and easily. 

I started this blog several years ago as a personal filing cabinet.  Now that so many recipes are readily available on the web that one hardly needs a bookshelf, I imagined I wouldn't need to corral everything in one place.  But visiting my parents out of state this summer, my mom (of all people) picked up an eggplant at a local farmers market and bought it simply for its' beauty.  Later she asked me what she should do with it, and I googled and asked all over the big wide web, but could not find this recipe online!  I guess there is still a function for my own personal collection of favorite recipes.  You can find my others here. 

"Eggplant Cream" recipe reprinted from the Vegetarian Times Cookbook, by the Editors of Vegetarian Times with Herbert T. Leavy, 1984.