Friends,
On Labor Day I decided to make Baba Ghanoush.
I realize this isn’t traditional Labor Day fare, but on Thursday of last week I’d enjoyed an extraordinarily tasty plate of the lovely Middle Eastern eggplant-based dip while sharing a wonderful meal with dear friends, and so, when on Saturday a neighbor stopped by with three eggplants for me, I decided it was time to learn how to make Baba Ghanoush. The process was not what I expected.
Here is a photo of two of the three eggplants I used.
The first thing you do is roast the eggplants, which I did outside on my grill.
And I mean, you really roast them.
And here is where faith comes in. The book of Hebrews tells us that faith is “the substance of things hoped for; the assurance of things not seen”, and I’m here to tell you by the time I was done roasting them, my eggplants betrayed substantially nothing resembling the delicious dip I hoped for, nor were they particularly assuring as I imagined the food I could not yet see.
But—and here I stopped taking photos because the process was getting messy—I ran the burnt eggplants under cold water to remove the charred skin, I mashed them with some tahini, lemon juice, yoghurt, sumac, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper, and I let it sit in the refrigerator for an hour.
And the results are amazing: a haunting mixture of sweet, spicy, tangy and smokey. It’s transcendent, really. (I also roasted and marinated some red bell peppers—a subject for another “Pastor’s Pen”.)
My spiritual takeaway is this: trust the process. Listen to those who have walked the road before you (or, in the case of baba ghanoush, trust the person who wrote the recipe). Just because at some point in the journey things look bleak, that doesn’t always mean they are. Sometimes a charred skin is a promise of added flavor. Never judge the dish till it’s in your mouth.
OK. That’s maybe a bit much for a simple Middle Eastern dip (or maybe it’s the saccharine musings of a pastor on a day that’s too hot), but dearly beloved, it was a really good baba ghanoush. If your neighbor brings you some eggplant and you want to try it yourself, here’s the recipe I used: https://www.themediterraneandish.com/baba-ganoush-recipe/
Bon Appetite!
God’s Peace,
Ben