Baba Ghanoush for Jess...

We were talking about this at Bunco and I promised I'd post it. It's been a long time since I made this - the last time was for a work party and everyone was afraid to eat it - it's not really a beautiful looking dish - so my husband and I ate most of it ourselves. It's wonderful with pita chips, fresh pita bread and sliced tomato, pretty much anything. I can't remember if I used cilantro or flat-leaf Italian parsley but now I'm curious and thinking I might make it both ways the next time I try it :)

You can leave it chunky or you can give it a whirl in your food processor - I like it better when it's more creamy than chunky, but don't put the herbs in until after if you choose to go that route :)

Hope you like it!

Baba Ghanoush

1 large eggplant

1.5 Tablespoons Tahini (I use Krinos - I've tried a couple but this is the only one I'll buy)

1 large garlic clove, minced

1/3 cup minced shallot

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 Tbsp high quality EVOO

kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste

3 Tbsp chopped cilantro

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Cut eggplant in half lengthwise. Place, cut side down, on shallow roasting pan. Prick the skin a few times with a fork and roast 30 mn or until they're soft. Transfer to a plate and let cool.

3. In a large bowl mix remaining ingredients (except cilantro) until combined. Spoon the eggplant out of the skin and mince. Add to bowl and season to taste. Alternately, put all ingredients in food processor and pulse a few times.

4. Add fresh chopped cilantro and stir to combine or leave on top so it looks pretty :)

Serve with pita bread, chips, veggies, etc.

Lemon Chess Pie...

Happy Easter! Thanks for joining us! We had a great day :)

For those of you that were here today and requested the recipe, here it is.

(This comes from the May, 2010 issue of Cooks Country)

Lemon Chess Pie

Use your favorite pie dough or do like I did and buy the Pillsbury ready made pie crusts in the fridge section - they work perfect in a pinch!

5 large eggs

1.75 cups plus 1 tsp sugar

juice (approx 3 Tbsp) and zest (approx 1 Tbsp) from 1 large lemon

2 Tbsp cornmeal (not coarse ground)

1 stick butter, melted and cooled slightly

1 - 9" pie shell

1. Before you even start the crust: Whisk eggs in large bowl until smooth. Slowly whisk in 1.75 cups sugar, lemon zest and juice, cornmeal, and salt until combined. Whisk in butter. Let sit while you bake the crust. Minimum 30 mn.

2. Place cold, refrigerated (at least 40 mn in fridge and 20 mn in freezer if you made from scratch - otherwise take ready made crust out and go from there) pie crust in 9" baking dish. Poke all over with fork. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Bake shell 8 mn. Remove from oven and reduce temp to 325.

3. As soon as the pie crust comes out of the oven, whisk filling briefly to recombine. Scrape into pie shell and bake 35 mn until surface is lightly brown and center jiggles slightly when shaken. Sprinkle with remaining tsp sugar. Cool completely on wire rack and refrigerate minimum 4 hours or overnight.

4. Serve with fresh whipped cream