Smoky Eggplant Dip

The best recipes are both simple and effective. The least amount of steps for the most amount of impact? That’s my idea of a good recipe.

This recipe is inspired by a recipe from Paul Kahan’s cookbook, Cooking for Good Times. Paul Kahan is the chef at The Publican in Chicago and I know his name well because when I was writing my cookbook Secrets of the Best Chefs, I did everything in my power to get him to cook with me. I remember calling his restaurant every day for a week only to be told that Chef Kahan was super busy and wouldn’t be able to do it. I was disappointed because his food always looked so good.

Thankfully, his cookbook reveals more about his philosophy and technique than I could’ve gleaned spending an hour in the kitchen with him. And this recipe from the book isn’t even meant as a dip: it’s a base for a steak dish with charred tomatoes. It’s described simply as “Burnt Eggplant.” But when I read the ingredients — Japanese eggplant, tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, cumin — it sounded like it would make for an exciting twist on an eggplant dip, especially because he instructs you to char the hell out of the eggplant and then to throw it into the food processor, skin and all.

Almost every other recipe for eggplant dip (or baba ganoush) tells you to peel the burnt skin off, but here you leave it in and it’s like going to a French bistro in the nineties before cigarettes were banned: more mysterious, more complex, more edgy.

The only change I made was to add more tahini to make it a little thicker. But this is a recipe that lets you play. Wan’t more zing? Add more lemon juice. Want it louder? Add some salt.

To serve it, I just drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with lots of za’atar and some Aleppo pepper; plus a chiffonade of basil (though chopped parsley would also work, even dill). You could fry your own pita chips, but I bought these in a bag at the grocery store and they worked great.

So the next time you find yourself alone in the kitchen with a (Japanese) eggplant, turn on that broiler and char char char. The proper soundtrack is The Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black.” It’s one of the few recipes in the world where burning it doesn’t spell disaster, it spells success.

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Smoky Eggplant Dip

Inspired by the Burnt Eggplant from Paul Kahan’s Cooking for Good Times

Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients:

2 pounds Japanese eggplant

1/2 cup well-stirred Tahini (I like Soom and so does Paul Kahan)

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving

1 teaspoon kosher salt

6 cranks of fresh black pepper

1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon chili flakes (I used Aleppo)

Za’atar (for serving; optional)

Pita chips (for serving)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the broiler and place the top rack of your oven as close to it as you can so get the eggplant really close to the flame. Place the eggplant whole (don’t cut off the stem) on a cookie sheet and cook until the eggplant is charred on top — you want it black — for five minutes or so, then flip and do the same on the other side. Continue to cook until the eggplant is collapsed and black all over, rotating as necessary.

2. Let the eggplant cool slightly, remove and discard the stems, then place in a food processor with the tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, kosher salt, black pepper, and chili flakes. Blend on high speed until smooth. Taste and adjust for everything — especially salt and acid — and keep adding and whirring until it tastes amazing. Scrape into a serving bowl, cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

3. To serve, drizzle a little olive oil on the eggplant dip and sprinkle with lots of za’atar. Place on a platter surrounded by pita chips or anything else you like to dip.