Tomato Salad With Smoky Eggplant Flatbread

On Day 2, I took my day-old pita, diced it, and pan fried it into croutons; then I combined those with all leftovers for a quick fattoush. Delicious! Honestly better than the "flatbread pizza" approach on Day 1.

This was a little tricky to eat when stacked up the way the recipe calls for. I will definitely do the traditional small dice on the tomatoes next time.

I recommend Paula Wolfert's method of charring the eggplant stovetop: wrap it in heavy-duty foil and place directly on gas burner, turning it periodically with tongs for about half an hour. No longer a fan of cinnamon in most savory dishes, I found ground coriander to be a great sub. Mixed in lemon juice, garlic and seasonings before adding tahini and oil for flavors to penetrate. Delicious without the yogurt. Bright pink pickled turnips, olives, hummus, cucumber and feta on the side.

Delish! Next time, I will buy a bigger eggplant though, because I had a lot of extra of the onion and tomato mixture. Also, I found it easier just to flake off the charred eggplant skin than to try to scoop the flesh out.

Grilled the eggplant as directed - smoky perfection. Bought a collection of tomatoes at the farmers’ market this morning that were so luscious, I just reduced balsamic vinegar to a syrup and drizzled it over them and left it at that. What a gorgeous summer meal.

This is the second time I’ve made one of these roasted eggplant deals with raw ingredients and I’m done. Ruined both with garlic. This time I tried mellowing the garlic in lemon before assembly but it still overwhelmed. I’m going back to baingan bharta which happens to make a lovely room temp, cooked spread.

We prepare this dish in my family for generations, a summer staple. Very popular across the Mediterranean region. However, we only use olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and finely chopped red onions. Wisk slowly into the hot chopped pulp the olive oil as much as it needs until it's creamy. Add the onions. Let it cool before further seasoning. We like to taste the lemon and pepper, but you can adjust freely to your taste. I usually serve toasted bread and sliced ripe juicy tomatoes. Enjoy.

It was a bit too much work for a weeknight. I liked it, but the kids thought the flavor was too strong (maybe I’d use half an onion next time).

To cut on time, I buy jarred roasted eggplant, found at most Middle Eastern food stores and some health stores (e.g. Sera, Ziyad brands)

Absolutely wonderful! Used my cast iron pan and broiler for the eggplant. The tomato salad was spectacular with the combo of heirloom and cherry tomatoes. There were only two of us so instead of mixing the tomatoes with the onion, sumac and pomegranate molasses, I cut some tomatoes into serving dishes and dressed with the onions. Plenty of leftover onion mixture to dress more tomatoes the next night. On the second night I added Persian cucumber. Will make over and over during tomato season.

Just wonderful. Delicious. Only change I made was to split the pitas flatwise, not crosswise, so more topping goodness on less bread. Otherwise, yum. Oh, I toasted my eggplant on a gas stove burner, worked perfectly turning with tongs.

Excellent! I broiled the eggplant a day in advance, & the flesh kept well in the fridge.

Absolutely delicious, a keeper! Complex, fresh, mix of crispness, velvetiness, and choppyness. Used organic heirloom tomatoes of different colors that melted in the mouth. Avoid making the tomato salad too early as it'll leach more juices than optimal. Used garlic naan.

So basically baba ganoush on some kind of flat bread and topped with chopped salad. Primo!