The following eggplant preparation is an adaptation from the recipe in the book “Plenty” by  Yotam Ottolenghi.  A few weeks ago a friend recommended this book to me, and stressed how great this recipe was.,  I’m glad I got the book and tried this recipe:-  it’s very pretty and delicious, with the tender and sweet eggpland flesh and tangy kefir sauce,  it can be served as an appetizer with pita chips or as an entree with a side of cous cous. 

Ingredients

• 2 large and long eggplants
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 tsp lemon thyme leaves, plus a few whole sprigs to garnish
• Maldon sea salt and black pepper
• 1 pomegranate
• 1 tsp za’atar ( can be substituted with herbes de provance + lemon zest + sesame seeds )

Sauce

• 9 tbsp kefir or  buttermilk
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil, plus a drizzle to finish
• 2 small garlic cloves, crushed
• Pinch of salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 F (200 C) (I baked these in the toaster oven, these would grill beautifully as well)
2. Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise through the stem
3. Using a paring knife cut a crisscross pattern in the flesh if the eggplant, being careful not to pierce the skin
4. Brush the eggplant with olive oil, until all of the oil is absorbed. Sprinkle with salt , pepper, and lemon thyme leaves.
5. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes
6. Shuck the pomegranate seeds into a bowl
7. Combine all the sauce ingredients in another bowl.
8. When the eggplant is soft, place it on a serving dish. Spoon the sauce over it, sprinkle with zaatar and pomegranate seeds.
9. Enjoy!