Happy Daylight Saving Time week! According to Wikipedia, setting the clocks back an hour can “complicate timekeeping, and can disrupt meetings, travel, billing, recordkeeping, medical devices, heavy equipment and sleep patterns.” For most of us, though, it means one extra glorious hour of whatever we feel like doing on a weekend (which for most of us, probably, is sleeping — unless you have small children, in which case this time of year probably feels like some cruel joke). If you’re like me, you might actually wait a couple of days to change your clocks, until you can no longer fool yourself every time you look at the clock and enjoy remembering that it’s actually an hour earlier. Other people do that, right?
So, since you technically have an extra hour, why not spend it slow-roasting some eggplant? I know you think this a trap, but it’s not. You’ll still get to do whatever it is you were doing, for (most of) that whole extra hour. The difference will be, at the end of it, with little work on your part, you’ll have a rich, smoky, caramelized piece of eggplant that can be scooped out of its skin and eaten any which way: served with pita chips as an appetizer, used as a delicious side dish to some grilled or roasted meat, or devoured all on its own and eaten with a spoon.
The only additional time you’ll need will be to whip up a tangy, tahini-tinged buttermilk sauce to drizzle over top, and to get some seeds out of a pomegranate to sprinkle over top. Pomegranates are in season right now and so are a little more affordable than usual — look for heavier ones (which will contain more juicy, ruby-red arils), and a firm, darker, reddish hued skin that isn’t loose, bruised or puckering. Those of us who want to maximize their time can even purchase the expensive pre-seeded packages of arils, but here’s a tip to make it go a little faster, if you’re just not that much of a baller. Learn from my own experience and de-seed your pomegranates in the sink, or wear an apron, as the juices can stain.
Tips: If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make your own by simply mixing 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar with 1 cup milk, and letting stand for about 10 minutes. Za’atar is a Middle Eastern spice mixture that can be found at most specialty spice shops or any Middle Eastern grocery, but if you can’t find it, you can use some fresh or dried thyme to substitute. Tahini is a roasted sesame paste that you can usually find in most bigger grocery stores.
Roasted Eggplant with Buttermilk-Yogurt Sauce
Adapted from Bon Appetit’s version of Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipe
Serves 4
2 large, long, firm eggplants
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Za’atar, a few sprigs fresh thyme, or ½ teaspoon dried thyme
a few handfuls of pomegranate seeds
For sauce:
½ cup yogurt (thick, Greek yogurt is best)
¼ cup buttermilk
1-2 tbsp tahini, to taste
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 small clove garlic, minced
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Slice eggplants lengthwise and place, cut side up, on a foil-lined baking sheet. Slice a cross-hatch pattern into the flesh of the eggplants, making your cuts about ½ inch deep. Drizzle liberally with olive oil and sprinkle generously with sea salt. Sprinkle za’atar or thyme over top.
2. Roast eggplants in oven until soft and caramelized, 45 to 60 minutes, depending on size of eggplants. If you have a convection oven, roasting on the convection setting can speed this up.
3. While eggplants roast, combine ingredients for sauce in a bowl, and set aside. De-seed pomegranate and set seeds aside.
4. Once eggplants are cooked, cool slightly, and remove to serving platter. Spoon buttermilk sauce over eggplants, then sprinkle with a bit of za’atar and pomegranate seeds. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Sara Chan is a Toronto-based entertainment lawyer, food enthusiast, unprofessional home chef and even less professional food photographer. Her favourite food group is pork.