This is a good dish to serve as an appetizer, salad, or to accompany a main dish.
If you’ve never used tahini paste, be aware that it behaves in a very weird fashion. Usually the oil separates from the rest in the jar, so before you measure it, be sure to stir it well.
When you add liquid to tahini paste, it gets very stiff. Keep stirring and keep adding liquid (usually water or lemon juice) slowly while stirring until you get the consistency you want. It should be easily spreadable but still thick, a little like sour cream.
You can prepare this several hours in advance of serving and just keep it at room temperature.
Ingredients:
1 large clove garlic
Pinch salt
⅓ cup tahini paste
2 Tbs. lemon juice
⅓ cup water
4 to 6 small eggplants (“Italian” are good, or baby eggplants)
¼ cup olive oil, plus a little more for drizzling
4 sprigs rosemary
¼ cup chopped parsley
Kosher or coarse salt and ground black pepper
2 to 4 Tbs. toasted pine nuts
Directions:
Mash garlic and salt with a mortar and pestle until it forms a puree.
Combine tahini paste, garlic and lemon juice; the tahini will become stiff. Whisk in the water until it reaches a sauce-like consistency. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Roast the eggplant: cut each eggplant in half and score the flesh with the tip of a paring knife in a cross-hatch pattern at 1-inch intervals.
Place eggplant halves on a foil-lined, rimmed baking sheet, cut side up, and brush each with oil, letting each brushstroke get absorbed before brushing on more. Season with salt and pepper and put a piece of rosemary on each.
Roast eggplant until completely tender and well charred, about 25 to 35 minutes.
Toast pine nuts in a few tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently (be careful, they burn easily).
Arrange the eggplant halves on a serving platter and spread with tahini sauce. Sprinkle with the pine nuts, parsley and rosemary, and drizzle with a little additional olive oil (optional).
Serve at room temperature.
Serves 6 to 8
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Hi, Bobbie. This looks really good, and I need a new appetizer to make. Question, though; do I need to use tahini paste, which I have never used, or can it be the tahini that is already in a jar and more emulsified ( right choice of word?)? Susan
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I probably shouldn’t have called it “paste.” The tahini in the jar isn’t pasty while it’s in the jar — it’s pretty liquid when you take it out of the jar. But it’s very strong and I always dilute it with lemon juice and/or water before serving. And when you first add water — this is so weird — the tahini gets stiff! If you keep adding water, just a teaspoon or so at a time, while stirring/whisking, you’ll quickly get it to the right consistency. Hope that helped!