Staying Fit
One day, in an effort to clean out my fridge, I roasted eggplants with wilted grapes and a wrinkly chile, topped them with feta, fresh herbs, pine nuts, pomegranate, and hot honey, and finished it all off with a drizzle of lemony, spiced tahini dressing. I didn’t actually expect anyone to try it — my then 8-year-old refused to even smell the dish — but when I saw my husband spooning an entire eggplant half onto his plate, I was speechless. I was further shocked into silence when he proclaimed, “I don’t even like eggplant, and I love this dish.” Which, if the ingredients in this recipe don’t convince you, that sentence speaks for itself. — Olga
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Serves 4
Ingredients
For the eggplant:
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed
- 2 medium globe eggplants (1½ lb. total)
- 1 teaspoon ground sumac, plus more as needed
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 8 ounces seedless grapes, preferably green
- 1 large red onion (12 oz.), halved and sliced
- 1 fresh red chile, such as Fresno, halved and finely chopped
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 3 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
For the spiced tahini:
- ½ cup well-stirred tahini
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice (from 1 to 2 lemons)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced or finely grated
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground sumac
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or more to taste
For serving (optional):
- Generous handful of fresh tender herbs (such as mint, cilantro, parsley, and/or dill), roughly chopped or torn
- Toasted pine nuts
- Pomegranate arils
- Hot honey, for drizzling