Middle Eastern Vegetable Recipes

Serve this dish by itself, with a salad on the side. It may also be served as a first course and should feed 5 to 6 people.

We are not vegetarian, but I have made this several times and we loved it. There is a similar recipe in the Dec 1997 issue of Food & Wine for a vegetable tagine.

Note: If you want to add about a tablespoon or two of olive oil, it will make it even smoother (although of course it won't be fat free any more). Baba Ghanoush is usually served as a dip, cold, with pita bread (like you would serve humus or tzatziki). It also works well as a sauce over steamed veggies like carrots, zucchini, or broccoli.

Marinated olives are essential to a menze or mazza, the Middle Eastern counterpart of an Italian antipasto. Moroccan market stalls are crowded with enormous ceramic jars filled with olives of all kinds. Moroccan Herbed Olives keep well tightly covered and refrigerated.