{"id":1538,"date":"2009-07-30T11:01:17","date_gmt":"2009-07-30T16:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/?p=1538"},"modified":"2020-12-06T22:08:07","modified_gmt":"2020-12-07T04:08:07","slug":"you-say-ganouj-i-say-ghanouj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2009\/07\/you-say-ganouj-i-say-ghanouj\/","title":{"rendered":"You Say Ganouj, I Say Ghanouj"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Or baba ganoush or baba ghanoush. <a title=\"Of course it has a Wikipedia entry\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Baba_ghanoush\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Baba ganouj<\/a> is a first cousin to hummus dip (mashed spicy chickpeas), but with eggplant as the base. For shmearing on pita wedges or vegetable sticks. Mollie Katzen in <em>Still Life With Menu<\/em> likes it as a pasta sauce.<\/p>\n<p>Any kind of eggplant works; the common jumbo globe has the least seeds, according to <em>Cooks Illustrated<\/em>. Toasting then grinding sesame seeds tastes better than store-bought<!--more--> tahini (sesame butter).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Around 2 pounds eggplant<\/li>\n<li>2-4 cloves garlic<\/li>\n<li>1\/4 cup sesame seeds OR tahini<\/li>\n<li>1\/2 teaspoon salt<\/li>\n<li>1\/2 teaspoon peppercorns<\/li>\n<li>1\/4 teaspoon cayenne red pepper flakes<\/li>\n<li>1\/4 cup lemon juice<\/li>\n<li>2 Tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for serving<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a cookie sheet. Heat 8- to 10-inch skillet on medium for 4 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Wash eggplant, trim off stems and slice in half, pole to pole. (Leave small or long eggplants whole.) Place on cookie sheet, cut side down, and bake 45 minutes. Or the eggplant can be grilled, skin side down, watching carefully, in less time (the smoky flavor is great but it&#8217;s more trouble). Garlic, unpeeled, can be roasted on the cookie sheet for the last 20 minutes, then pulp squeezed out. Or peel raw garlic and reserve.<\/p>\n<p>Toast sesame seeds in skillet for 2-4 minutes, until about half of the seeds have darkened to light to medium brown; do not burn. Remove to a bowl and cool 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to hasten cooling. Grind seeds with the dry spices in a coffee grinder &#8212; the size of the grinder bowl will dictate if that&#8217;s to be done in batches.<\/p>\n<p>Take eggplant from oven. Let eggplant cool enough to where it can be touched. Peel the halves, scraping out any meat sticking to the skin with a spoon. Cut the meat into around 2-inch chunks. If the eggplant is still tough, place in microwave-safe bowl, add 2-4 Tablespoons water, cover loosely and zap on high in 2-minute increments until tender, no need to drain water.<\/p>\n<p>Combine all ingredients and puree. I use a stick blender, but a jar blender or food processor work fine, in batches as needed, then stirring all back together in large container.<\/p>\n<p>Baba ganouj should be served at room temperature or a little cooler than that. Serves at least 8. Just before serving, taste test as it might need another 1\/4 teaspoon salt or a spritz more lemon juice. Drizzle olive oil over top.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Or baba ganoush or baba ghanoush. Baba ganouj is a first cousin to hummus dip (mashed spicy chickpeas), but with eggplant as the base. For shmearing on pita wedges or vegetable sticks. Mollie Katzen in Still Life With Menu likes it as a pasta sauce. Any kind of eggplant works; the common jumbo globe has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-condiments"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4604,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2013\/10\/hummus-remember-this\/","url_meta":{"origin":1538,"position":0},"title":"Hummus Remember This","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"October 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Hummus is Middle Eastern bean spread. It seems as if every country on the Mediterranean -- if not every household or cafe -- offers a version. This is a basic and quick, low-fat version, far less expensive than store-bought. A common plan is making a batch at the start of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Condiments&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Condiments","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/kook-cooks\/condiments\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2042,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2010\/07\/ratatouille-not-twee\/","url_meta":{"origin":1538,"position":1},"title":"Ratatouille Not Twee","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"July 4, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Fourth of July calls for red, white and blue. But if it's independence we're celebrating, why not red, green, yellow and purple? Ratatouille is a southern European, mid-summer, vegetarian casserole, ideal for when you return from the farmers market with way too much. The chickpeas make this a one-pot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Main Courses&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Main Courses","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/kook-cooks\/entrees\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1528,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2009\/07\/granola-better-homemade\/","url_meta":{"origin":1538,"position":2},"title":"Granola, Better Homemade","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"July 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Using two cookbooks for one oft-used recipe, mainly the penciled notes in each, finally got old. It's time to write it out. Is it mine, or theirs (see footnote)? A now-retired newspaper food editor once told me not to worry: \"At conferences, we all agree, if you change more than\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bake&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bake","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/kook-cooks\/bake\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7257,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2022\/03\/slaw-down\/","url_meta":{"origin":1538,"position":3},"title":"Slaw Down","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"March 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This recipe for coleslaw took decades to nail down. Not full time, had other things to do. It starts with Porta's barbecue on Jenny Lind near my junior high school, Ramsey, in central Fort Smith, Arkansas. There were several Porta brothers, Art's only served BBQ and sides, intended for take-out\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sides&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sides","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/kook-cooks\/sides\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Large steel bowl of shredded cabbage","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Shredded-Cabbage-wikimedia-commons-1920x1080-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Shredded-Cabbage-wikimedia-commons-1920x1080-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Shredded-Cabbage-wikimedia-commons-1920x1080-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Shredded-Cabbage-wikimedia-commons-1920x1080-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Shredded-Cabbage-wikimedia-commons-1920x1080-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Shredded-Cabbage-wikimedia-commons-1920x1080-1.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7281,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2022\/05\/just-enough-bagels\/","url_meta":{"origin":1538,"position":4},"title":"Just Enough Bagels","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"May 11, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Sourdough, Whole-Wheat, No-Knead Recipe One goal in my first trip to New York City, organized by My Beloved, this past April, was a breakfast with fresh, real bagels. In Ess-a-Bagel, we believed we had merely picked a well-ranked shop in Yelp walkable from our hotel, but a couple of weeks\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bake&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bake","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/kook-cooks\/bake\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Unsold bagels in the trash behind a bagel shop","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Discarded-Bagels-wikimedia-commons.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6932,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2020\/12\/carrot-coneys\/","url_meta":{"origin":1538,"position":5},"title":"Carrot Coneys","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"December 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"One food I didn't miss when I went veg was the hot dog. But last Memorial Day I realized my error. My Beloved considers the store-bought vegan frankfurter a quick occasional lunch, heating a couple to go with a salad. Works for her, meh to me \u2014 until the American\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Holiday Cuisine&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Holiday Cuisine","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/kook-cooks\/holiday-cuisine\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Carrot Coneys cooked up July 4, 2021","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Carrot-Coneys-July-4-2021.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Carrot-Coneys-July-4-2021.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Carrot-Coneys-July-4-2021.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Carrot-Coneys-July-4-2021.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Carrot-Coneys-July-4-2021.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1538"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6843,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1538\/revisions\/6843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}