Roasted eggplant caviar

Ingredients

Serves 4 • Roasted and mashed with olive oil and lemon juice is a common and delicious way of eating eggplants, often described as “poor man's caviar.” Use firm eggplants with a shiny black skin.

• 2 eggplants, weighing about 1½ pounds total
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Juice of ½ lemon, or more to taste
• Salt

Method

Broil or roast the eggplants (see page 63). Peel, letting the pieces fall into a colander with tiny holes, then chop with a pointed knife and mash to a puree with a fork or a wooden spoon, so that the juices escape through the holes of the colander.

Transfer the eggplant to a bowl and beat in Dor the oil and lemon juice and some salt.

Variations • For a Syrian flavor, mix in 2 tablespoons pomegranate concentrate or molasses (see page 45) instead of lemon juice, 2 crushed garlic cloves, and 3 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley.

For a spicy Moroccan version, add 1 crushed garlic clove, ½ teaspoon harissa (see page 464) or a pinch of cayenne and h teaspoon paprika, ½ teaspoon ground cumin, and 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro. • For an eggplant salad, add 3 tablespoons chopped parsley, 2 chopped tomatoes, 4 chopped scallions,

Comment

A little boring in the basic version but not bad. Worth doing some of the variations.