Eggplant with Buttermilk Sauce

Eggplant with Buttermilk Sauce

Kaliste Kimball

This is a tweak from a recipe I found in a cookbook. I personally am not an eggplant person, but my mother and my boyfriend both are obsessed with it, and as soon as he heard about this he begged me to make it. I changed some things up from the original recipe like I always do, and it turned out to be a HUGE hit in this house. It's definitely making its place in our family cookbook. And it is PACKED with fiber and antioxidants. Did you know half of an eggplant has over 9 grams of fiber? Yum. 

Ingredients

For Eggplant

2 large and long eggplants

1/3 cup olive oil

3/4 tsp thyme leaves

lemon

1 pomegranate

coarse sea salt

black pepper

1/4 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp thyme leaves

Sauce

9 tbsp buttermilk

1/2 cup 0% fat Greek yogurt

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil plus a drizzle to finish

4 small garlic cloves, crushed

pinch of salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the eggplants in half lengthways, cutting straight through the green stalk (the stalk is for the look, don't eat it). Use a small sharp knife to make three or four parallel incisions in the cut side of each eggplant half, without cutting through to the skin. Repeat at a 45 degree angle to get a diamond shaped pattern. 

Place the eggplant halves, cut-side up, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush them with the olive oil, and keep on brushing until all of the oil has been absorbed by the flesh. Sprinkle with 3/4 tsp thyme leaves, salt, and pepper. (My two favorite types of salt are pink Himalayan sea salt or black Hawaiian sea salt. They have more of a salty taste than regular sea salt.) Take a small food grater and lightly grate the skin of the lemon onto the eggplants for a lemon zest. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, at which point the flesh should be soft, flavorful and nicely browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool down completely.

While the eggplants are in the oven, cut the pomegranate into two halves horizontally. Hold one half over a bowl, with the cut side against your palm, and use the back of a wooden spoon or rolling pin to gently knock on the pomegranate skin. Continue beating with increasing power until the seeds start coming out naturally and falling through your fingers into a bowl. Once all are there, sift through the seeds to remove any bits of white skin or membrane. 

To make the sauce, whisk together all of the ingredients. Taste for seasoning, then keep cold until needed.

To serve, spoon plenty of buttermilk sauce over the eggplant halves without covering the stalks. Sprinkle remaining thyme and oregano and plenty of pomegranate seeds on top, and finish with a drizzle of olive oil.