Aubergines

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Today we make aubergines! Also known as eggplant, which is a lot less exciting sounding. Someone else told me that they think "aubergine" sounds very pretentious, and they are right. However, I grew up thinking that eggplants would be revolting because...I mean, really. Eggplant? Gross. It's a terrible name. If, when I was growing up, my mom had told me we were having aubergines for dinner, I would have been okay with it. Instead, she said eggplants, so I never liked them until this year. I was missing out on so much! Anyway, I intend to call them aubergines so people won't get grossed out and will be more willing to try them when I cook them.

Moving on.

I found this recipe from My New Roots - an amazing site if you haven't checked it out yet.

Obviously, I didn't follow the recipe exactly - I never do. I will tell you what I did, but you should definitely look at her recipe, though, and follow it as closely as you can.

Aubergine
Cut your aubergine/eggplant in half. Cut diagonal lines in the fruity part - MNR says this helps to let out the steam, but if you cut it deep enough, it will make eating easier later on. Place the slices on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and bake for about 40 minutes at 400.

Tahini
1/3 C. tahini,
Garlic
Red pepper flakes/ceyenne - to taste
1 1/2 Tbs. lemon juice
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. honey
Water to thin - Don't forget this! I did at first and it made it much more difficult to make.

Mix all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. If you don't have a food processor - which I don't (well...it's a really tiny/sucky one, so it hardly counts), just stir it. You'll live. Add as much water as you want - I didn't add too much because I didn't want super thin sauce, and I was afraid of losing the flavor of the sauce that I had already tasted and liked :)
Once I did all of this, I added some leftover almond pulp (from when I made this almond milk) to my tahini to add extra nut flavor.

The finishing touches
Once your aubergine halves are done roasting, toss on some feta cheese (MNR says use goat or cow feta...I don't even know what cow feta is. I just used regular feta...unless that's cow feta...whatever), and toss it back in the oven for a few more minutes. When the cheese is melted, pull out your aubergines and drizzle on some honey and some tahini sauce.

MNR adds a lot more to her aubergines, but I didn't have all of the stuff she added, so if you want to know all the extra stuff, check it out here.

Anyway, I loved this stuff so much that I had to eat the whole eggplant. Er...aubergine. I felt kind of gluttonous, but...it was so good that I didn't care. If you try it, let me know what you think!

Love,
Scout