Roasted Eggplant with Tahini

I was never a big fan of tahini, I honestly thought it tasted bitter. Turns out, I was just not eating good tahini! I’m now totally hooked after learning to look for good ground sesame seeds from Israel. My favorite is Seed +Mill, sooooo good. Tahini is crazy versatile: hummus (of course!), babaqganoosh, salad dressings, vegan cheeze sauce (to make it even dreamier & creamier), spread on tofu, and of course drizzled over roasted veggies, my favorite being eggplant.

If you’re a diehard tahini fan, or maybe you’re just testing the waters, let me know what you think about this recipe in the comments below. Or even better, share how you use tahini in your recipes!

Ingredients

4 large eggplant

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tbsp fine sea salt

1/4 C parsley, roughly chopped

1/3 C tahini

flaky sea salt, to taste

Steps

Line 2 large baking sheetpans with aluminum foil and lighlty grease with olive oil (~1 tbsp per sheet pan)

Slice eggplant 1/4 in thick and lay slices on baking sheet. Using 1 tbsp of the fine sea salt, sprinkle all eggplant slices. Let sit for 30 min. Water will seep from eggplant, this is normal because we want to remove excess water before roasting

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

After 30 min, use a paper towel or clean kitchen cloth and blot eggplant slices to remove excess water. Lightly drizzle eggplant with olive oil and sprinkle remaining 1 tbsp of fine sea salt over all eggplant slices (feel free to add more if you prefer eggplant to be a bit saltier)

Roast eggplant for 25 min, rotating halfway through

Set oven to broil and broil eggplant for approximately 3 min per sheetpan. NOTE: Oven temps can vary, so watch the eggplant to make sure it doesn’t burn. You may also need to broil longer to achieve desired roasted level. Eggplant should be light-medium brown.

Remove sheetpans and let cool for 5 min

Arrange 5-6 slices of roasted eggplant on each plate. Drizzle with desired amount of tahini and scatter parsley and flaky sea salt