EGGPLANT PESTO
Ingredients
- 2 eggplants
- 1-2 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley
- 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup lemon juice (or as much as you like)
- 1/4 cup or more extra virgin olive oil
- salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Instructions
- We have lots of eggplants growing in the garden this time of year. I love roasted eggplant. It's smoky, meaty and very flavorful.
- This dip is wonderful smothered on bread, over fish, in sandwiches, the list goes on and on.... Give it a try and you will love it! The best part about this recipe, just like most that you make at home, add to it what you like to suit your taste. For example: roasted red peppers are delicious in this, fresh basil may be substituted for parsley, pine nuts may be used instead of walnuts, scallions are yummy in this, leave the parmesan out and crumble feta on top..... You get it. Right? Just make it 🙂
- Set your oven to the broil setting. Mine has a high or low broil option, choose the high.
- Brush the eggplant with a little oil and pierce it all around with a knife so that it does not burst while broiling.
- Place a sheet of aluminum foil in a baking pan and put the eggplant on top.
- Broil it for 20 minutes, turning it halfway through cooking time.
- Remove the cooked eggplant from the oven and wrap it in the foil it was cooking on.
- Allow it to cool for about 20 minutes.
- Remove and discard the skin.
- Pulse the garlic with the parsley in the food processor until finely chopped. Add the walnuts and cheese and puree.
- Put the peeled eggplant with all of it's juices in the food processor with lemon juice and pulse while adding the olive oil until everything is nice and smooth. You can keep it chunky if you like. It's great both ways.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- I like to chop up some tomatoes and garnish the pesto on top for some added brightness.
- Enjoy!
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