A hearty spread of roasted eggplant and roasted garlic, coarsely chopped and flavored with rich ground cumin, olive oil and a finishing touch of fresh mint. A wonderful appetizer served on crisp crostini, my version of eggplant caviar is as elegant as traditional caviar, with a rustic twist. Traditionally, eggplant caviar is made by scraping out only the insides of a roasted eggplant, but I figure, why waste the tender roasted peel of the eggplant, right? I recommend including it in the mix as well for a more rustic and hearty vegetarian spread.
Tender roasted garlic & eggplant
(To view this recipe, click on the blue title of the blog post above*)
Rustic Eggplant Caviar
Ingredients:
- 1 baguette, cut into ½ inch rounds
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt & Pepper
- 1 large eggplant
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- Fresh mint, for garnish
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Halve the eggplant lengthwise and place it, along with the unpeeled garlic cloves, on the baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with a touch of salt and pepper. Roast in the preheated oven for 1 hour, or until the eggplant is very tender.
- Meanwhile, bake the crostini. Before placing it the oven, drizzle the tops of each bread slice with oil and season with black pepper. Bake for 7 minutes, or until crisp and lightly browned.
- When the eggplant is cool enough to handle, remove the tops with a knife and coarsely chop. Squeeze the roasted garlic from their peel as well, and coarsely chop. Add both the garlic and the eggplant into a mixing bowl. Add in the ground cumin and 2 Tablespoons of olive oil. Season with a touch of salt and pepper to taste. Stir together until well mixed.
- Top each crostini with some of the eggplant mixture and garnish with mint and an extra drizzle of quality olive oil.
Tagged: appetizer, caviar, crostini, cumin, eggplant, fresh mint, garlic, ground cumin, hors d'oeuvre, mint, roasted eggplant, roasted garlic, roasted vegetables, rustic, snack
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