Baba Ganoush

Eggplant caviar

Ingredients

Recipe

The trick to all good eggplant cooking is to drain away the bitter juice. So many good recipes start by salting the eggplant (done the same way as kashering meat). However, when you grill or broil the eggplant, you don't need to salt it; the juices drain away during the cooking.
Wash the eggplant and use a sharp knife to make several long, half-inch deep, slits length-wise. The slits allow the juices to drain out (and stop the eggplant from exploding when they boil).
Grill eggplant until deflated and black, turning occasionally so that it cooks evenly, about ten minutes. If you don't have a grill handy, a broiler works almost as well; just be sure to line it with tin foil first, because the eggplant leaks messy juices as it cooks.
Let the eggplant cool a long time, in a colander or some other place where the remaining juices can drain off without making a mess.
When the eggplant is cool, slice it in half and scrape the flesh out. Discard seeds, burnt stuff, and anything that looks really nasty. You don't have to be very picky though; a little char adds to the smoky taste.
Put one peeled clove of garlic into the food processor and chop it well. Scrape down.
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