Tuesday, July 11, 2006  Eggplant Dip (Baba Ghanoush)  Baba
GhanoushAlso known as The Broom of the System. (Although when
precooked, as it is here, it looses the spongy structure noted
to soak up oil and lubricate the innards.)  It's said to have
originated in the Middle East (ME). But the ME is a big and
disparate place, whereupon some portions have proclaimed their
desire to see other portions "vanish from the page of time", or
more colloquially "wiped off the map". It's so heterogeneous, in
fact, that eggplant dips exist in various forms, depending on
the region or culture. They're often seen made with tahini
(sesame paste), but some regions spurn the sesame for olive oil;
others take a dairy approach with a nice cool-tart whole-milk
yoghurt. Baba ghanoush is essentially a dip made from roasted
eggplant, pureed with a fat and some flavorings. (I wonder if
peace in the ME would amount to standardization of the baba
ghanoush.)  This one I made with just olive oil, but some or all
of the oil can be replaced wi