Roasted Garlic & Eggplant Dip with Almond Crackers

I picked an eggplant out of my garden this morning and went looking for a recipe to make a garlic eggplant dip. I found this recipe on pinterest ... I watched the video, took a couple notes and had it in the oven 10 minutes later !

While the eggplant was roasting, I went back to pinterest (my starting point for any recipe search these days!) and found an interesting looking recipe for crackers made out of almond meal. They looked easy to make. They were. 

I'll just write down the steps for the eggplant and then I'll tell you how to do the crackers.  Watch the video for the dip ... it's quite good and it's easier to understand than the written instructions will be.  And it cracks me up at the end when they just stand there munching on the crunchy crackers !

For the dip ... no real measurements as you'll see in the video.
Eggplant
Garlic cloves
Green chilli, I took the seeds out of mine and sliced them long
Olive oil
Salt
Lemon, for squeezing
Red Onion, finely diced
Fresh Coriander (Cilantro), chopped

Preheat oven to 230C/450F.

Make four long slits down the length of the eggplant.  Don't cut all the way through but go down far enough that you can stick stuff inside it.  I had to slice my garlic to fit inside the slits but in the video they leave them whole.  Put garlic and green chilli into the slits.  Put eggplant on a piece of foil and then drizzle eggplant with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.  Wrap up foil tightly.  Place in a small casserole dish and bake for 1 hour.  

When done baking, immediately remove eggplant from foil and put into the casserole dish.  Score skin on underside and then mash everything with a potato masher ... yep, skin and all !  Set aside to cool.

When cool, add red onion and coriander.  Season with salt and lemon juice til it's to your liking.

For the crackers ... 
I found this recipe on Home Cooking In Montana and she found it on Caveman Food.

1 cup almond meal
1 egg white
salt

Preheat oven to 350F/180C (although, I think I might go a bit cooler next time ... maybe 160/170)

Mix almond meal, egg white and pinch of salt.  Mix with a fork.  Roll into a ball.  If it's too sticky, add a bit more almond meal.  Put ball between two pieces of baking paper and roll out thin.  Cut (I used a pizza cutter) into squares and then lay on a baking tray.  I used the baking tray upside down because the crackers hung over the edge a bit ...

Bake 5-8 minutes or til crackers are golden.  Watch them towards the end because they brown up real quick !

Pistachio Dukkah

oh boy do i love this stuff !

i had dukkah for the first time about 10 or 12 years ago at christmas dinner with friends

i loved it straight away !

then a few years ago, my friend kel and i found it at the markets 

yum yum

we have talked about how easy it must be to make
but just never made it
until last week !

i went to visit kel for her 40th birthday weekend celebration extravaganza !

we made dukkah

i'll never buy it again.

Here's how we made it ...

1/4 cup sesame seeds
3 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
2 cups pistachios (buy the ones already taken out of the seeds !)
salt
pepper
olive oil
turkish (or your choice of) bread

So ... dry roast (in a frying pan) the sesame seeds til golden. Tip into the food processor. Dry roast coriander and cumin seeds til fragrant. Tip into food processor. If the pistachios aren't already roasted and salted, dry roast them and add a bit of salt. Tip into food processor. Add pepper. Process til chunky ... see photo !

Serve with olive oil and bite size bread chunks.

To eat ... dip bread chunk into olive oil, then into dukkah ! Enjoy !! YUMMMMM !!

I'm making this again tomorrow for Christmas Eve with the family !!

Ranch Style Dip (with optional green extra)

So .... I wanted to make a dip that used greek yoghurt as the base. I found a few online for ideas and then combined them to make this. It was nice. You'll notice that the two photos are pretty different. I forgot to add the spinach until today (when I found it in the microwave where it was defrosting last night !!! ha ha) But ... it was good BOTH ways and next time I might not even worry with the spinach because it was kinda like ranch before the spinach went in !

Anyway, here's what I did ...

500g greek yoghurt
1/2 cup reduced fat feta, crumbled pretty small
500g spinach (optional - especially if you forget it !)
1/4 small red onion, finely diced
2 Tablespoons minced fresh parsley
2 Tablespoons garlic flakes
1 teaspoon dried dill
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients. Refrigerate for at least an hour so that flavors combine ! I served with carrot sticks, cucumber slices, red and yellow capsicum (bell pepper) strips, cauliflower and broccoli florets.

Buttermilk Ranch

We love Ranch. Unfortunatly, the store bought one is laced with preservatives ... and who knows what else !? So ... I have been on the lookout for one to make at home. I found a Ranch Dressing recipe in a Donna Hay cookbook ... it was a bit runny as a dip ... yet tasty ... so I modified it to make it more dippish ...

Here's what I did ...

3 Tablespoons Buttermilk
1/2 cup (or more if not thick enough) of sour cream
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tsp dijon mustard
A handful of chopped chives and parsley
Salt and Pepper

I think all add some garlic and possible a bit of onion powder to it next time ...

Mix all ingredients and dip raw veggies into it. We love cauliflower, broccoli, cucumber, carrot and yellow capsicum (bell pepper) !

Hummus

I got this recipe out of an easy cookbook for kids
- ages ago -
can't recall the name of the book though.

Ingredients :
1 can chickpeas
4 tbsp tahini
2 lemons
2 cloves of garlic ( I used 5 )
pinch of salt
2 tbls olive oil
Pinch of paprika

How to Make It :
Drain chickpeas, put in food processor ( or blender ). Add garlic (I minced it), tahini, salt, olive oil and the juice from both lemons. Blend til smooth. Add a bit of water if you think it needs it. ( I didn't need to ) Put into serving dish, sprinkle with paprika. Serve as a dip with veggies or crackers or bread. I served with turkish bread tonight. I've also used this in the lentil wraps. YUMMMMMMY !!!

Non-Cook "Lasagna"

Ok ... I realize this photo looks odd. Like, perhaps something you would like to NOT put in your mouth !! BUT ... it is yummy and I assure you, once you make it, you will not be able to stop putting this in your mouth !! I love it. We had it for a light dinner tonight. Rory had it on fresh white crusty bread. I had it on whole wheat rice crackers.

--
1/2 a zucchini, finely sliced
2 cups tightly packed fresh spinach, processed til finely chopped
1/2 cup avocado, mashed
AND
1 ripe tomato, seed and chop (1/2 cup)
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
1/2 cup red bell pepper
2 tbls olive oil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp salt
--
Process everything under the AND ... til smooth.
--

Layer zucchini, spinach, avocado, tomato sauce. Do a few layers. I think I got three in a rectangular tupperware and four or five in a square tupperware ... It's best if you leave it set a few hours in the fridge before you eat it. The flavors really develop !

--
See ... it is edible !!

Artichoke and Cumin Dip

The photo isn't the best ... but this was TASTY !!!

2 x 400g (14oz) cans artichoke hearts, drained

2 garlic cloves ( I'm pretty sure I used 4)

1/2 tsp ground cumin

olive oil

ground black pepper

This is so easy. Add first three ingredients and a generous drizzle of olive oil to your food processor. Process to a smooth puree and season with black pepper to taste. The recipe I used said to drizzle with olive oil when you serve, but I didn't. Come to think of it, I didn't use any pepper either.

I served with whole grain rice crackers. The recipe said to serve with vegetable crudites, for dipping. I think that would be good too !! Am going to try them when I get eatin' on the leftovers !!