It’s the end of the summer, and the farmers markets near me are full of wonderful produce. There are so many vegetables to choose from and so much to be excited about, and often I find myself torn deciding what to cook this week. Zucchini! Potatoes! Tomatoes! Cucumbers! Peeeeepppppeeeers! Eggplant!!!!!

I’m not sure if you feel the same, but I often find myself with the dilemma of how much I love eating eggplant, but I don’t always like to cook it. It usually takes me a long time to cook an eggplant, and it’s one of those vegetables that you have to pair with something else because the eggplant on its own is not really that fulfilling. My usual go-to recipe for eggplant is either diced and sautéed for pasta, or pan-fried and smothered with homemade marinara sauce and lots of parsley. So, for today’s recipe I wanted to challenge myself to be creative, and do something different with the lovely eggplant.

And this brings me to my inspiration for the recipe – the amazing Harissa! For a long time I have been drooling over the fingerling potatoes at Tilia restaurant in Minneapolis, as they are served with a wonderful harissa sauce that’s nothing I had tasted before. Most store-bought harissa sauces have a pronounced heat and punch, and Tilia’s harissa is full of roasted peppers flavor, cumin, but without the strong, overpowering heat that blocks the other flavors. For many years I have been on a shortcut route by buying harissa sauces from ethnic stores and online, with the hope that at least one of them will be close to Tilia’s – but no success. So, frustrated and determined I finally decided to pull up my sleeves, put my apron on and attempt to recreate the flavors as I experienced them of what Tilia’s harissa sauce tastes like.

So here I am, super excited to report that (I believe) I successfully nailed my dreamy harissa sauce! Yay!!! It blends roasted red peppers, tomato paste, lots of cumin, a touch of sweetness for balance, and the wonderful harissa spice blend from my new friends at Spice Your Life, who are as passionate about spices as I am about cooking and eating. I discovered Spice Your Life shop in Minneapolis by accident, and I was so fascinated by their story and how their love and passion for spices, combined with many years living and working in the middle-east had inspired them to bring that abundance to Minneapolis. I found kindred spirit in the founders, and we had many passionate conversions about food and its healing power, spices and recipes. ***This is not an ad for Spice Your Life. It is a genuine appreciation and reflection of people who love what they do, and who are so authentic in their expression of how they share their passion, and knowledge with their community.

This recipe, with it's blend of spices and ingredients, transports me to the middle-east where spices are abundant and have the power to transform a simple vegetable to an explosion of aromas and flavors. Freshly ground cumin, hot and sweet peppers, eggplant, feta cheese, mint parsley, and a creamy roasted garlic yogurt sauce. Eating that dish makes me feel like I am enjoying a lunch at a tiny, plastic cloth-lined table at one of those colorful, busy spice markets in Morocco or Turkey. It is so full of exotic spices and flavors, and makes me want to buy a ticket to travel far, far east for a while and be immersed in unknown cultures.

I hope that my rumbling and passion for harissa sauce made you a bit curious about what Iggy is excited about. So now...close your eyes, and imagine yourself being at my kitchen, sitting on my tiny table, sipping a glass of wine, chatting with me as you are being immersed in the wonderful aromas and flavors coming from my stove as I cook us lunch. Fragrant cumin, sweet roasted garlic, olive oil roasted eggplant, and fresh mint and parsley.

Roasted Eggplant with Harissa Sauce, Feta and Mint / Печен Патладжан по Марокански

Serves 4 (generously) or 6-8 (as a side dish)

Ingredients:

Roasted Eggplant

• 2 eggplants cut in half lengthwise
• Olive or Sunflower oil for roasting
• Salt and pepper

Harissa Sauce

• 1 jar (12oz) roasted red peppers, drained
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tbsp Spice Your Life (or a brand of your choice) Harissa Spice Blend
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 1/2 tsp maple syrup
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Salt

Roasted Garlic Sauce

• 1 large garlic head
• 1 cup plain, full fat, Greek or Icelandic yogurt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1-2 tbsp lemon juice
• Salt and pepper

Toppings

• 2oz-3oz mild feta cheese (Israeli or French)
• Handful of fresh parley leaves
• Handful of fresh mint leaves

Directions:

Roasted Eggplant

Preheat oven to 400F.

Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Prepare the garlic for the yogurt sauce: Peel and discard the papery outer layers of the whole garlic bulb, leaving intact the skins of the individual cloves of garlic. Using a sharp knife, cut 1/4 to a 1/2 inch from the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic. Place the garlic on a piece of aluminum foil, drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over the exposed head, and wrap the garlic the foil. Place in the baking sheet.

Eggplant: Score the flesh of the eggplant with a knife in a diamond shape, cutting deep into the flesh but not through the skin. Brush eggplant flesh with olive or sunflower oil and season generously with salt and some pepper. Place eggplant cut-side down on the lined baking sheet and roast for 35-40 minutes, or until the back of the eggplant looks collapsed and puckered. Let the eggplant cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Harissa Sauce

While the eggplant is roasting, place all the Harissa sauce ingredients in a food processor (or use an immersion a blender) and puree until smooth. Taste and add salt to taste, more lemon juice if needed, or more Harissa spice if you like it spicier. Place the sauce in a jar or a container for later. Makes about 1 cup (you will have some leftovers – wonderful on smashed potatoes, breakfast eggs, or as sandwich spread).

Roasted Garlic Yogurt Sauce

Allow the garlic to cool enough so you can touch it without burning yourself. Use a small knife cut the skin slightly around each clove. Use a cocktail fork or your fingers to pull or squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins. Place all roasted garlic cloves into the food processor bowl. Add the rest of the roasted garlic sauce ingredients. Wizz until smooth. Taste and add more salt, pepper or lemon juice.

Assembly

Use dinner plates or pasta bowls if serving individually, or a large serving platter if serving as an appetizer for a group. Spread the yogurt sauce (about 3 tablespoons of the for each eggplant half) and place eggplant on top. Top each eggplant half with about 2 tablespoons of Harissa sauce, large pieces of feta, fresh parsley and mint leaves. Finish by drizzling some olive oil and light dusting of Harissa spice.

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Hello my dear blog! Sorry, I haven’t been here with you in a long time. And it’s not that I have forgotten you. Quite the opposite. I have worked on recipes for you, and I have taken tons of photos to make you beautiful, and been with some amazing food-cooking farm-living creatures to write you some good stories. Yet, somehow, sitting down and writing has been slipping away from me. Maybe it was the summer. Maybe it was the lovely people that surrounded me. Or maybe both. But hey, winter is here and I have no more excuses but to sit inside on a chilly day and write and write and write. So here I am.

And now, about today’s recipe:
Kiopoolu my dear American friends is the Bulgarian word for eggplant dip or Baba Ganoush. Just as the other well know forms/names of a eggplant dip the eggplant is roasted (or grilled) to soften the flesh, then the flesh is scooped and mixed with garlic, olive oil and some acid, like lemon juice or vinegar, and enjoyed as a side dish or an appetizer. I loved Kiopoolu when I was a kid because my dad always grilled the eggplant on a hot summer August night. Then while still hot, he removed the skin with a knife and mixed the flesh in a huge wooden mortar and pestle with some roasted red peppers, grated fresh tomatoes, garlic, vinegar and lots of parsley. I loved the smooth texture of the eggplant dip and the zesty-freshness of the tomatoes and the vinegar. My memory of these times is that my family always enjoyed the Kiopoolu on that hot summer night when all bunch of dips and salads replaced a cooked, dinner just because it was too hot to eat heavily cooked meal.

My version of Kiopoolu is a mix of the Kiopoolu of my childhood combined with my experiences enjoying the different ways of eggplants and dips I had over the years as I lived in the United States or traveled to Greece. What I love about the eggplant as a vegetable is that its flesh is mild in flavor and absorbs and serves as a base for so many other flavors as it holds them together. You can go as basic as salt, olive oil, garlic and acid or, go all the way by adding parsley, mint, walnuts, and roasted peppers. In this recipe, I grilled the eggplants whole which hardened their skin and made it easy to scoop away the flesh and it added that slight smoky-summery flavor to the dip. I used lemon juice and added fresh grated tomatoes for a balanced and complex acidity. I also used both mint and parsley for freshness and mixed everything with fine ground walnuts.

Hope you like it ❤

xoxo

Kiopoolu – Smoked Eggplant Dip

Serves 4-6 as an appetizer

Ingredients

• 2 medium size eggplants
• 2 Roma tomatoes, grated*
• 1/4 cup whole fat Greek or Icelandic yogurt
• 1 large garlic clove, finely minced
• 3 tbsp olive oil + more for serving
• 1/3 cup raw or toasted walnuts, finely pulsed in a food processor
• 2 tbsp finely chopped mint + few leaves for garnish
• 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley + few leaves for garnish
• 1/2 lemon, juiced (about 3 tbsp)
• Salt + Pepper
• 1/2 tsp Sumac (optional)

* To grate tomatoes: slice them in half and grate (flesh side against the grater) on the largest holes of a grater over a medium bowl until all that’s left is the flattened tomato skin and stem. Discard skin and stem.

Directions

Prepare a charcoal grill for medium heat (coals should be covered with ash and glowing red with no black remaining.) Place eggplants 2 inches from heat source. Allow skins to blister and char, turning with tongs until entire surface is blackened and eggplants are completely soft, about 10 to 12 minutes. Set aside on a large plate until cool enough to handle and to allow some of the juices to run out.
Slice the eggplants lengthwise and scoop the flesh from the skin into a the bowl of a food processor (it’s okay if bits of charred skin get in there too). Discard burned skins.
Place the remaining ingredients except the sumac (if using) in the food processor and gently pulse until all ingredients are incorporated but still slightly chunky (Do not over blend or you will end up with a baby-food-like puree.) Taste and add more salt, lemon juice, herbs or olive oil per your liking.
To serve, drizzle the dip with more oil and top with mint and parsley leaves and sumac (if using.)

Dip can be made up to 2 days ahead. Cover and keep chill.

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