Roasted Eggplant Spread

I love eggplant and always look for new ways to make it at home. This is almost a baba ganoush but without tahini. The recipe is below.

Ingredients:

2 large eggplants (9-10 inches long and 4 in diameter), cut into 1 ½ inch thick circles

2 garlic cloves, minced through the garlic press

juice of ½ of a lemon

½ teaspoon of cumin

2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 F. Generously brush eggplant circles with olive oil on both sides, layer on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 35-40 minutes turning once. Let eggplant cool off. Remove the skin and transfer into a food processor. Add garlic, cumin, lemon juice, parsley and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Puree. Salt and pepper to taste. Store in a refrigerator. Serve cold with grilled bread or corn chips.

Ginger Garlic Baked Tofu

I adapted this recipe from PCC Natural Markets. The hardest part is grating ginger. The best part is the sauce. For less expensive ingredients head to the asian market. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 lbs of extra firm tofu
3 oz of orange juice
1/2 cup of mirin
1/4 cup of tamari
1/4 cup of sesame oil
1/8 cup of olive oil
1/8 cup of rice vinegar
2 tablespoons of freshly grated ginger
2 tablespoons of minced garlic through the garlic press

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 300 F. In a meantime take tofu out of a package and squeeze water out of it by placing it in a bowl with a weight on top. Cut tofu into 4 pieces per pound. Place tofu in a large ovenproof glass dish.

2. In a large bowl whisk together orange juice, mirin, tamari, sesame oil, olive oil, rice vinegar, ginger and garlic.

3. Pour the sauce over tofu and bake in the oven for 1 hour, flipping and basting every 15 minutes.

4. Serve with rice. Great cold.