بابا غنوج

You read that right, baba ghanoug!

Before I get ahead of myself, I must apologize for my brief hiatus. A few days ago, whilst running out to greet the post who was armed with a boatload of books bearing my name, I kicked the grill and broke my toe. My excitement for anything requiring movement has been dampened, and even the thought of going to the farmer's market ranked right up there with eating a bar of soap.

I've not been a happy girl.

In effort to make peace with my abuser, I fired up the Weber today to work on the third installation of our vegetable series and wound up with this smoky baba G. I also created a lovely recipe for buckwheat olive oil crackers and I must confess, they came out rather swell. Tender and flaky, a beautiful, nutty flavor from the buckwheat, and a delightful richness from the olive oil. I ended up making three varieties: plain, sesame, and cracked black pepper. My Greek-Armenian-Egyptian friend confided that they were the best, most tender crackers that she had ever had, and that she was as impressed with this baba as she is with her mother's. That, dear Reader, says it all.

Buckwheat Olive Oil Crackers & Smoky  بابا غنوج

Oh, in case you're wondering, there is nothing that one can do for a broken toe except wear hard-soled shoes to keep your foot stabilized as you move about your day. So today I exercised in my Army issue combat boots, and believe it or not I had one of the best workouts that I can remember, broken toe and all.

When life hands you lemons (or at least one), dear Reader, you must, I implore, make this bana ghanoug!

Here's your larder:

For the بابا غنوج:

2 medium to medium large eggplants
1/4 cup plus 1 TB toasted tahini
2 TB lemon juice
1 TB olive oil
1 large garlic clove
1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted & ground fine
A few pinches of salt

For the buckwheat olive oil crackers:

175g all purpose flour
75g buckwheat flour
120g water
1 tsp. baking powder
55g extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp pimenton (*pimenton is smoked Spanish paprika)


Make the baba:

Make a small fire in the grill. When the coals have turned to ashy, glowing embers, plunge the eggplants right in the center of them. No grate. Just directly on the coals.

I know, sounds all wrong. But this is how our primitive ancestors cooked, and so today shall we. Now, when the eggplants have wrinkled and collapsed into a soft, blistery mass like this:

They're done. Don't fret. The outside SHOULD be completely charred. Set them in a colander in the sink to drain and cool. When they are cool enough to handle, peel the black skins off as carefully as you can. Don't worry if you can't scrape off all of the char, this is rustic cooking. Plus the black flecks in the finished baba will add charm and your friends will know that you didn't buy it from the supermarket.

Back to the task at hand.

Your squashed eggplant should yield about 1 cup. Get this into the bowl of your food processor fitted with the regular blade.

Now, mortar up a clove of garlic with a pinch of salt (for friction) to a very smooth paste like this:

Get 2 tsp. of this garlic into the food processor bowl, along with the tahini, the lemon juice, the cumin, the olive oil and a couple of good pinches of salt. Whir. Test for seasoning, and adjust the salt and maybe the lemon juice if need be.

Spoon the baba into your best bowl and get started on the crackers.

Smoky Baba Ghanoug

Make the buckwheat olive oil crackers:

Preheat the oven to 420 degrees, and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper. This is one of those rare occasions where I would say use your convection oven if you have one, to ensure even baking. If you don't have one, don't worry, there are directions to ensure even baking below.

Pour the flours, baking powder, salt and pimenton in the center of your work table.

Make a well in the center and pour in the water and olive oil in increments, working the liquids in with one hand and a bench scraper.

When the wet and dry mixtures have come together, knead for a minute, and form into a ball.

Divide the dough into four equal parts, smear a thin layer of olive oil over your work space so that the rolled dough does not stick (don't worry, this is an easy dough that is not really prone to sticking. The olive oil is a 'just in case'), then roll one part out into a thin, even sheet, letting the weight of the rolling pin do the work.

Be sure to rub a bit of olive oil over the other 3 balls of dough and cover them so they don't form a hard skin.

At this point you can bake the cracker as a whole sheet as I did, then break it up into pieces when it cools, or cut it into neat shapes before baking them.

You might want to add fun elements to the surface of the cracker like herbs, nuts, coarse sea salt, seeds... I added sesame seeds to one, black pepper to another, and I left two of them plain.

Bake as follows:

PLAIN: Brush the dough with olive oil and lay it as flat as you can over the parchmented sheet pan. If you are going to work with cut crackers, cut into the desired shape and lay them over the parchment. Bake 4 minutes, rotate the pan and flip the cracker over to ensure even baking (if working with individual crackers, there is no need to flip them all, but do rotate the pan). Bake until JUST golden. When done, cool on a wire rack before breaking or eating. They will crisp further as they cool, so don't be worried if they seem a little pliable when you take them out of the oven. Just be sure not to overbake.

TOPPINGS: Sprinkle the rolled out dough with your topping of choice, I used pepper and sesame seeds. Once the topping is scattered over the top, gently press it into the dough with the rolling pin or it will slide right off when it comes out of the oven. Avoid adding pressure. The weight of the rolling pin itself is plenty. Brush the dough with olive oil and lay it as flat as you can over the parchmented sheet pan. If you are going to work with cut crackers, cut into the desired shape and lay them over the parchment. Bake 4 minutes, rotate the pan and flip the cracker over to ensure even baking (if working with individual crackers, there is no need to flip them all, but do rotate the pan). Bake until JUST golden. When done, cool on a wire rack before breaking or eating. They will crisp further as they cool, so don't be worried if they seem a little pliable when you take them out of the oven. Just be sure not to overbake.

Buckwheat Olive Oil Crackers

Mangia bene, vivi felice!

This post was spirited off to Wild Yeast Blog's Yeast Spotting.