我想不出a more rustically elegant (is that a contradiction in terms?) starter. Serve with some robust white bread or pita and you are, literally, in food heaven. In the recipe you'll find Sami Tamimi's technique for getting the seeds out of the pomegranate, which I am afraid is now a very well-known secret.
Ingredients
Makes 4 as a starter
Sauce:
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 200°F. Cut the eggplants in half lengthways, cutting straight through the green stalk (the stalk is for the look; don't eat it). Use a small sharp knife to make three or four parallel incisions in the cut side of each eggplant half, without cutting through to the skin. Repeat at a 45-degree angle to get a diamond-shaped pattern.
Step 2
Place the eggplant halves, cut-side up, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush them with olive oil—keep on brushing until all of the oil has been absorbed by the flesh. Sprinkle with the lemon thyme leaves and some salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, at which point the flesh should be soft, flavorful and nicely browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool down completely.
Step 3
While the eggplants are in the oven, cut the pomegranate into two horizontally. Hold one half over a bowl, with the cut side against your palm, and use the back of a wooden spoon or a rolling pin to gently knock on the pomegranate skin. Continue beating with increasing power until the seeds start coming out naturally and falling through your fingers into the bowl. Once all are there, sift through the seeds to remove any bits of white skin or membrane.
Step 4
To make the sauce. Whisk together all of the ingredients. Taste for seasoning, then keep cold until needed.
Step 5
To serve, spoon plenty of buttermilk sauce over the eggplant halves without covering the stalks. Sprinkle za'atar and plenty of pomegranate seeds on top and garnish with lemon thyme. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil.
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Reviews (32)
Back to TopERROR! ERROR! TEMP IS 400F NOT 200F!!
H. John Bridger II
Seattle, WA
3/16/2022
It was awfull. The eggplant was watery, the the water from the eggplant combined with the sauce to make a soppy mess. Totally un appetizing, and pretty tasteless with all the watered down sauce. I might grill some eggplant this summer and serve with the sauce and pomegranate.
Suz lucan
Fonthill, ontario
1/16/2022
This is my favorite recipe from Plenty! I've made it several times, and each time it comes out delicious if you do it right. Sometimes I forego adding the buttermilk to the Greek yogurt and in lieu of pomegranate seeds I use whole cranberries. It's good no matter what adjustments you might make to suit your taste.
JenniferAnn119
StratCTStra
1/13/2021
我和我丈夫从未喜欢茄子but a friend made this at a dinner party and we LOVED this. The sauce is what really makes this so it would be good on top of pretty much anything. I am making this tonight and have already made the sauce and it's super easy and super good. I completely recommend this dish.
isbelle000
Nashville, TN
11/19/2020
This recipe is great. We've made it many times. But there's a typo in this version. It calls for the eggplant to be roasted at 200ºF when really it should be 200ºC (~400ºF).
sararielle
MA
7/29/2019
We thought other eggplant recipes have been SO much better!
murielcart
Dallas, TX
11/8/2017
The original recipe in Plenty was for 200ºC/400ºF. This is an error.
drmaxny
New York NY
9/20/2017
I have made this several times at 400 degrees F. It's amazing. I would advise baking it for 45-60 minutes. The pomegranates add a beautiful high note to meatier eggplant and the sauce as simple as it is, brings it all together. It always gets rave reviews.
harrygorilla
Edina, MN
9/12/2017
I love this recipe. I got my zaatar from www.eatzaatar.com . they have the best quality zaatar. also I added some tahini with the yogurt. thanks for sharing the recipe.
helen19801123
Great falls, VA
1/23/2017
I read some of the reviews and baked the eggplant for 1 hour at 400 degrees. This is a great eggplant recipe. Yumm!!
jacpeeb
Denver CO
1/26/2016
Whomever posted this recipe left a rather egregious mistake for the uninitiated. The temperature to bake the eggplant at is NOT 200F! It's 400F, where 200 would be 200C (Celsius). Boy did that piss me off. Thankfully, I found the same recipe elsewhere with the CORRECT temperature. Great recipe, bad editing.
forrie
Derry, NH
9/7/2015
Ok, so I finally made this recipe (for a small dinner party last weekend). It was amazing - I made the buttermilk sauce and it had tons of flavor. Everyone over it. Substitutions are easy and taste fine, too. I substituted sumac and fresh time to sprinkle on tope since I had misplaced my zatar; and I had to use a bit of regular yogurt since I did not have enough Greek yogurt on hand. Also we had it without the pomegranate seeds on top and they were not missed. After realizing I'd forgotten it I put some dried cranberries and a tiny bit of pom molasses on the last half of eggplant to see how it was and that was good too.
cmindc
Washington DC
8/31/2015
I've wanted to make this recipe because the chef who created it is genius. But, I can tell that the sauce would be bland and tgenittermlk looks like it should be cheese to get a little more flavor from it. Has anyone tried it with cheese melted o. It? What type would compliment the eggplant, spices and pomegranate? Thanks!
cmindc
Washington DC
8/21/2015
I also have the cookbook and have made this several times, always getting rave reviews from guests. We weren't impressed the first couple of times we made it, but kept making adjustments until we were happy. 1) We grill the eggplant instead of baking in the oven and grill it until it is absolutely soft and tender inside. 2) We grill it with za'atar sprinkled on top of the olive oil and salt. Add more za'atar at the end. 3) I don't bother with the buttermilk. Just increase the amount of yoghurt in the dressing. 4) We rarely have pomegranates available so just use dried cranberries instead.
silwood
Washington, DC
8/4/2015
Despite completely forgetting that you can't get pomegranates in Oregon in March, I made this last night and really enjoyed it. I substituted dried cranberries to try and emulate the color pop and sweet-tartness, and it was okay but will probably just wait for pomegranate season next time. Husband and I made this from the Plenty cookbook, which does say to cook at 400F. We took them out at the 35-40 minute mark, but I agree with fellow reviewers that an hour might have been just a little better. Served with Za'atar Chicken with Green Tahini (this site).
lschmidt
Portland, OR
3/5/2015
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