My family is more than a little obsessed with the eggplant spread - or melitzanosalata - at It's Greek to Me. The creamy eggplant is perfectly balanced with lemon, garlic, fresh herbs, and salt. Nathan and I could sit down with just that, and a mountain of pillowy, hot-off-the-griddle pita bread, and stuff ourselves like fat little dolmades.
Yeah.
Needless to say, when I saw a pile of gorgeous eggplants at the farmers market, I greedily snagged several, with eggplant spread fully on my mind. I used this David Lebovitz eggplant caviar recipe, because 1) David Lebovitz recipes are always fantastic, and 2) I loved the idea of the seared, blackened eggplant skins imparting a subtle smokiness to the spread.
Always go for the smoke, right? Perhaps a rule to live by.
One note - definitely don't forget to poke a few holes in the whole eggplants before setting them on the hot grill. If you don't, you'll learn that eggplants explode rather loudly.
When the skins are blackened, finish roasting the eggplants in the oven, until they're falling-apart tender. Scrape the flesh into a bowl, mash with plenty of garlic & herbs, drizzle with olive oil, and smear generously on warm, grilled bread.
Commence stuffing yourself.
Recipe for Eggplant Caviar at www.davidlebowitz.com.
