An easy delicious serve yourself entree
Quick Entree. Party Food.
I’ve been a bit busy lately. There’s been visitors staying and people dropping by. I have lots of birthday cakes to bake this month and some recipe testing for a company trying to develop a range of sauces. I feel completely spun out, and I know you are probably the same. There’s always so much to fit in.
The creamy smokey base
If you are busy this could be the best way to entertain without too much effort. make this ahead of time and bring it back to room temperature if you like. Be sure to get the eggplant nice and charred and smokey for a really smooth and smokey treat.
As a way of encouraging a spare minute and still feeling good about what I am feeding people, I have perfected the quick entrée. It’s also a great way to keep everyone occupied while you sort the rest of dinner or get the drinks.
I know it’s just a glorified dip… I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel, but there is some thing nice about sharing platter style. Give it a try and also try this one too. Goat cheese and roasted tomatoes.
Toasted Chickpeas & spek
Just help yourself
So I’ll get back to you after this weekend perhaps show you pictures of the birthday cakes made….
Smoked Eggplant, Toasted Chickpeas & Spek
Ingredients
- 100 gm Spek or Pancetta cut into small pieces like a thickish matchstick
- 1 whole eggplant medium- mine was about 300gm peeled
- 1 Tablespoon ground cumin
- 2 Tablespoons Tahini
- 1 clove garlic
- 1-2 Tablespoons lemon Juice
- 1-2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Toasted Chickpeas
- 400 gm chickpeas can well drained washed
- 1 Tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon parsley chopped
- 1 tablespoon chives chopped
Instructions
- Make this eggplant puree ( babaganoosh) a day or two ahead if you like. The eggplant needs to be smoked. To do this put the whole eggplant over a gas burner turned to medium and let smoke and blacken turning occasionally until it is well charred and softened. Put onto a tray and bake till soft and steamy ( 10- 15 minutes). If you dont have a gas stove put it under a grill and leave to char.
- Peel the blackened skin from the eggplant making sure that none of the charred pieces are stuck to the flesh, keeping any bits of flesh and liquid.
- Put into a food processor with tahini, garlic, salt spices & 1/2 the lemon and olive oil blitzing till smooth, taste and add more lemon, oil and salt if needed. It should be smooth and creamy.
- Heat a frypan and add the spek sautéing till well browned. Mop up any excess fat with kitchen paper.Leave the spek in the pan and add the olive oil to the pan then the chickpeas cumin, sesame seeds and a sprinkling of salt. toss this on medium till the chickpeas start to toast and flavour. Taste, it could need more salt or even more oil .
- Spread the babganoodsh over the base of a platter or plate. sprinkle with chick peas. Splash over some lemon oil if you have it or just olive oil. Then sprinkle with herbs.
- Serve with toasted pita bread or other bread or Turkish bread or crackers.
I know this is a long time coming but I have been making this for at 8 years.
It is to die for – an absolute fave.
Well thats fabulous. Its great isn’t it?
This recipe looks amazing– I can’t wait to try it! Could you recommend (if any) any substitutes for Tahini or Cumin?
Hi Tess , there are no really substitutes for the flavours of those ingredients however if you wanted to replace them you for another result , you could use some yoghgurt or pmayonnaise and some curry powder or any other spice you like.
Eggplant is on my forbidden list but I must try it again and see what happens. I do love its versatility.
Hi Tan. Eggplant is one of my favourite vegetables. I will definitely give your recipe a go! I am looking forward to seeing the birthday cakes caus I’m a cake fiend as you know!! Catch you in class chick. X
Tania, that sounds DIVINE! I’ve got chickpeas in the freezer ready to go – now I just need to pick up some speck and eggplant! x
If this was the beginning, I can’t wait to see the main. 🙂
Brilliant! Babaghanoush AND Chickpeas in one! Middle East: listen & learn!!
What a great recipe and dish to have on hand when time is short – although I also hope things settle down for you.
This sounds great. Love that you topped off your dip with the toasted chickpeas. They’re a great way to add both texture and spice to your dip. Sorry you’ve been so busy and I hope things have settled a bit for you. 🙂
That smoky eggplant base sounds amazing!
I’m not a big fan of eggplant any other way than babaganoush. And you know what? I never bake it after I’ve blackened it but I probably should I think. No idea why it never occurred to me…!!
Sounds yummy!
Sorry to hear you are so busy and juggling so many things but the recipe development sounds like a good gig and I’m looking forward to you sharing your cakes. I love the look of this and I’ll definitely be making it – I’m a big fan of your recipes! xx
Share platters are such a comfy way of serving, and they engage the diners with the food so well, I think it’s a great way to serve up this delicious entree Tania!
You certainly sound flat out sweetie, I hope it all goes well this weekend, and we’d definitely love to see the finished cakes please 🙂 x
Good luck managing everything! I can imagine that your kitchen is a production line of cakes and notes with the recipe testing! 😀
I absolutely love smokey eggplant, by far one of my favourite flavours. I can see how it would compliment speck and chickpeas nicely. I’d love a scoop!