This is my contribution for this month’s #LetsLunch, a virtual monthly potluck on Twitter. The theme this month is “edible decorations for the festive season.”
I love the idea of edible decorations, but couldn’t come up with any tree or star shaped recipes that inspired me. Instead, I thought of one of my favorite dishes, the roasted eggplant that graces the cover of Yotam Ottolenghi’s beautiful cookbook, Plenty. (Incidentally, I am such a huge fan of Ottolenghi’s simple but divine vegetarian cooking that I would fly to London just to have lunch at one of his “delis”.) The pomegranate arils (seeds) that garnish these simple roasted eggplants look like little rubies and alongside the fresh herbs, well, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
These eggplants graced my table as a side dish at Thanksgiving and will also be on the buffet at my holiday cocktail party this year. You can spoon it out delicately onto crackers, pita chips, triangles of sliced pita, or toasts, or just dig in with some pita chips. The original recipe calls for a buttermilk-based dressing; mine is topped with a garlicky tahini sauce, which makes this into a deconstructed baba ghanouj.
Roasted Eggplant with Tahini and Pomegranate
Recipe inspired by Ottolenghi’s Eggplant with Buttermilk Sauce
Serves: 12 as an appetizer
Ingredients
Two large, long eggplants
1/2 cup olive oil
salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup tahini
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
juice of half a lemon
2-3 tablespoons of Italian parsley, in fine ribbons
ground sumac or za’atar (a few pinches for garnish)
arils/seeds of one pomegranate
Technique
1. Preheat oven to 300 F.
2. Wash and dry eggplants. Cut in half lengthwise and place, cut side up, onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Use a paring knife to cut deep diagonal slices into the flesh, but not through the skin, of the eggplant halves. Repeat at a 45 degree angle in the other direction until you have diamonds.
3. Brush each eggplant half with a few tablespoons of olive oil. Sprinkle on a bit of salt and freshly ground black pepper.
4. Roast in oven for 45 minutes to an hour, until the flesh is soft when pierced with a fork, but the eggplant halves still maintain their shape.
5. Meanwhile, make the sauce by combining the tahini, garlic and lemon juice. Add salt to taste.
6. Arrange eggplants on a platter, spoon sauce onto each half, then top with pomegrante arils, parsley and ground sumac or za’atar.
7. Serve with triangles of pita, pita chips, or toasts.
Cheers!
Thanks for coming by! If you enjoyed this, please leave a comment and/or share this with your friends.
Please see these other fabulous contributions to #LetsLunch:
Lisa’s Chocolate Almond Tree on Monday Morning Cooking Club
Anne Marie’s Ornament Sandwiches on Sandwich Surprise
Betty Ann’s Mini Bibingka on Asian in America
Lucy’s Peppermint Candy Tray at A Cook and Her Books
Pat’s Lemongrass and Pandan Sugar Cookies at The Asian Grandmother’s Cookbook
Tammy’s Chewy Gingerbread Cookies at Insatiable Munchies
Vivian’s Festive Gingerbread Cookies at Vivian Pei
Linda’s Merry Kale Trees at Free Range Cookies
Grace’s Spiced Shortbread at HapaMama
Annabelle’s Pecan Caramels at Glass of Fancy
Karen’s Christmas Baskets at Geofooding
Reblogged this on Recipe Reblog.
This almost looks too pretty to eat…
Thanks!
The front of that cookbook kills me every time I walk past that section in the bookstore! Yours look beautiful — and now that I have the recipe, I’m going to have to try it myself!
Enjoy. All of the recipes are amazing. I’ve dined at one of the Ottolenghi outposts in London and I am serious, worth a trip!
I had to check out your post…b/c I was like how on earth did she make eggplants Christmassy? Well, very nicely…I prefer savory over sweet things so will definitely keep your lovely side in mind! 🙂
I can do anything with an eggplant 🙂 Thanks for coming by, Rashda, hope to see you lunching with us again soon! Happy holidays!
I love Plenty and Jerusalem, and Ottolenghi is brilliant. Love this recipe, eggplant is one of my favorites, and this looks so festive with the pomegranate, so beautiful.
Hi Suzanne, thanks! Happy holidays!
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I love eggplant and this is a perfect recipe for the holidays and beyond. It was fun to do #LetsLunch. Thanks for sharing this and the blog-visit. Happy Holidays!
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Wow, very xmassy, and it looks so snacky! And I love the snow falling on your site too!
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So beautiful — I thought only of sweet things, but you remind me of how gorgeous a savory dish can be. Inspired addition to holiday feasts and I will enjoy making it.
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substitute for pom seeds now that they’re out of season?
That’s hard to sub. I’d just omit.