Having grown your own organic garden produce, you can have lots of fun deciding how you’re going to eat it. Over the next few days we’ll be featuring some easy nutritious recipes that make use of your harvest of homegrown fruits and vegetables.

Check out this simple recipe for Baba Ganoush and enjoy the natural fruits of your labour as part of an organic lifestyle.

Baba Ganoush is similar to houmous, but its base is eggplant, also known as aubergine. First point to note is don’t pull the aubergine off the plant, use scissor. If you tug the vegetable away, you may hurt the plant.

To make sure the eggplant is ripe, look for a slight lightening of colour toward its top. Also when you press on the flesh gently, you should be able to make a slight indentation that springs back straightaway. If you can’t make an indentation then wait a couple of days.

Additional organic ingredients include:

  • 3 tbsp of tahini
  • 3 tbsp of lemon juice
  • 2 tsp of white wine vinegar
  • 2 tbsp of olive oil
  • 1/4 tsp of cumin, and 1/2 tsp of smoked hot paprika
  • 1 large chopped garlic clove
  • 1 tsp of lemon zest
  • 2 tbsp Italian parsley

Baba Ganoush is a roasted aubergine dip. To roast, preheat the oven to 450F (230C) and slit the vegetables lengthways. Place slit side down and roast in the oven until soft and wrinkly – approximately 25-30 minutes but the time varies according to the size of the vegetable.

When cooked, allow to cool a little. Peel off the outer skin and scoop out the soft flesh inside. Chop into small pieces and put two cups of the chopped aubergine into a blender along with the other ingredients. Blend until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

This can be served with pitta bread, olives and feta cheese as suggested in the clip. Alternatively slice up some other veggies, such as carrots, cucumber and celery, from your organic garden. Delicious as a light lunch or quick snack.

This is one of the joys of organic living – to grow your own produce, harvest it yourself, and use it as a super healthy meal to feed the family. Enjoy the sense of achievement too.

Filed under: Organic Kitchen

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