Friends coming over for aperitif this evening? Here is a Mediterranean recipe featuring eggplant for a delicious appetizer with Lebanese flavors. Its real name: Baba Ganoush or Baba Ghanoush (any spelling is fine). Low in calories, rich in fiber & packed with antioxidants, eggplant is excellent for your health. And you are sure to impress your guests with your creamy eggplant caviar on the table!
For 4 food lovers, here is the list of ingredients:
- 5 large eggplants
- 3 small cloves of garlic
- olive oil to taste
- 1 lemon
- salt and Espelette pepper
Preparing your eggplant caviar
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise. Peel the garlic cloves. In a casserole dish, arrange the eggplants and garlic cloves and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for about 45 minutes. Once cooked, scoop out the eggplant flesh with a spoon. In the blender bowl, place all the ingredients except the olive oil (eggplant flesh, roasted garlic, lemon, salt and pepper) and blend until smooth. Pour into a bowl, add a drizzle of olive oil and refrigerate. Your caviar is ready!
Tip: to continue with Lebanese specialties, serve this caviar with pita bread and homemade hummus.
Eggplant caviar is a must-have for aperitif. Making it at home is even better, and well within the reach of all budding cooks. This recipe smells wonderful with the aromas of the Middle East. It will be delicious paired with Oé Le Côtes du Rhône Rouge Oé, which offers all the richness and boldness of Southern Grenache. The red fruits, spices, and silky texture of the wine give the palate a comforting feeling.
Baba ganoush or Moutabal - yet another name for this eggplant delight - has become popular in Lebanese restaurant mezzes. It is generally served with pita bread, which is made mainly with flour, yeast and water, and normally cooked in a wood-fired oven. You can make them at home by then cooking them in a pan or in your oven. We explain how to make them in no time (that is, for 4 people in 30 minutes + 1 hour of dough resting time).
You will need:
200 g of flour, 1 teaspoon of dried baker's yeast, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 pinch of sugar, 100 ml of water, 1 teaspoon of olive oil.
First, dilute the dried baker's yeast in the 100 ml of water with a pinch of sugar. Let rest for 10 minutes. Put the flour and salt in a bowl then add the water and the yeast. Knead until you get a ball. Then knead again for at least 5 minutes to properly remove the air from the dough. Put some oil on the dough ball and cover with a tea towel. Let the pita dough rise for at least 1 hour. Once the dough has risen, push the air out of the dough by pressing your closed fist into the center several times. Then divide it into 4 pieces. Roll out your dough with a rolling pin until you get a dough 0.5 cm thick. And cook in a hot pan without fat for 4 to 5 minutes over medium heat and with a lid to make the bread puff up well. Turn them over halfway through cooking. Done!
At Oé, the whole team loves eggplant caviar. It is almost a tradition to bring or prepare some for a team evening to enjoy with good Italian breadsticks. Other recipe ideas for a successful aperitif that we can whisper in your ear are small thin zucchini and mushroom tarts, small thin tarts with old-fashioned mustard and garden tomatoes. You can also prepare gougères which pair very well with a crémant or champagne. For a successful dinner aperitif, you can also add tasting Burrata mozzarella with a little fleur de sel and a turn of Sichuan pepper, good Parmesan and marinated olives. By assembling your platters you create a unique moment to share around delicious bottles of organic Oé wine.
And for lovers of sharing moments, we offer you other recipes to prepare with a glass of organic wine...
• Sun-dried tomato and mozzarella puff pastries to enjoy with your organic wine Oé Le Côtes-du-Rhône Rouge
• The homemade hummus with a glass of white wine
• Bruschettas with mozzarella and Parma ham and their Corbières or Méditerranée !
• The team Christmas meal with which to pair all the Oé organic wines
