Ok, before making this recipe I had never had baba ganoush.  In fact, I didn’t even really know what baba ganoush was and the only reason I thought about it was because of the movie Wedding Crashers.  Yes, the movie with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson.  It’s one of my sister’s and my favorite movies and it’s awesome and if you’ve never seen do it now.

Well, in the movie Owen Wilson’s character affectionately calls Vince Vaughn’s character “Baba Ganoush”.  So the other day I was randomly thinking about the movies and I decided to figure out what baba ganoush meant and when I saw that it was an eggplant and tahini spread I decided I needed to make it for myself.

Yes, this is how my brain works.

I really love how light and simple this dip is and it’s amazing on chips (particularly pita), cut up vegetables, and while I haven’t tried it yet I bet it would be good spread on fish or chicken.  You could buy baba ganoush at the store but the kind I found had odd ingredients and was way more expensive and why buy it when you can easily make it?

While this dip won’t replace hummus (hummus love forever yo) it is a new fun dip!

Baba Ganoush

• 1 medium sized eggplant
• half a lemon
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 4 cloves garlic, roasted
• 2 tbsp tahini*
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tsp fresh parsley, chopped or 1 tsp dried parsley
• roasted sesame seeds for garnish, optional

1. Preheat oven to 400 and prepare a large baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper.
2. Wash and rinse the eggplant really well and poke it all over with a fork.  Place it on the baking sheet.  Take 4 cloves of peeled garlic and wrap them in a little foil pouch with a little olive oil and salt and place the pouch on the pan with the eggplant.
3. Roast the eggplant until it’s soft and starting to collapse rotating it halfway through. About 30 to 35 minutes.  Roast the garlic for about 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.
4. Once the eggplant and garlic are done roasting, let them cool until you can easily handle the eggplant.  Slice in half and scoop out the flesh and place it into the food processor along with the rest of the ingredients, except the sesame seeds.
5. Process until it’s smooth.  Scoop into a bowl and if you’re serving right away top with toasted sesame seeds and a drizzle of olive oil.

* I also tried this with almond butter and it worked just fine but I like the flavor tahini adds. Use whatever you like and have on hand.