It was going to be a big dinner party. Kind of Mediterranean-style. Lots of little plates then something I could serve family-style. The finish was going to be a fruit dessert. Everyone was looking forward to it and then it all went kerflewy. The flu felled my plans.
I sorted out all the stuff I’d bought for dinner, cleared the counters and took to my bed, only to be confronted a few hours later by the eggplants I’d roasted and set aside. There they were, appropriately (and quite attractively) wrinkled, sagging in the center and charred here and there.
It was these eggplants that became my new favorite spread. What makes this recipe so different from so many others (and so wonderfully delicious) is the exuberant amount of ginger, the culinary world’s chief perker-upper. The addition of tahini, pomegranate molasses and sumac only makes this more alluring.
I turned the spread into a tartine, the French version of toast or an open-faced sandwich, building it with fresh pear, radishes, onions and soft lettuce.
What started out as just a way to salvage two eggplants became a dish I make often … on purpose. Love it!
The recipe is here. Along with the complete origin story.