EGGPLANT AND GINGER TARTINES

Makes 4 tartines

Like many cooks, I often make mid-dish changes either because I discover I

don’t have an ingredient I’d planned to use or because I get a spur-of-themoment

hunch that something just might work. Because I’ve been cooking

for so long, the tweaks usually work out just fine. But every once in a while,

something really works out, which is what happened when I added fresh

ginger to this baba ganoush–like dish. While I’d always loved eggplant for its

deep, somewhat musky and mysterious flavor, with the addition of ginger,

citrusy sumac and pomegranate molasses, I now love it for its lightness and

brightness.

The mixture, more airy than dense, can be scooped up with torn pieces of

warm pita, crackers or crudités, or it can be spread, thick and luscious, on

slabs of bread to make an open-faced sandwich, or what the French call a

tartine. I think it shows off its best qualities as a tartine. In addition, serving

it as a sandwich allows you to have a little more fun — you can add radishes

and pears for cool crunch, pomegranate seeds for acidity and surprise and

something green for color and a touch of bitterness.

a word on the slicing and chopping

When it comes to the ginger, don’t be dainty — it’s nice to coarsely chop the

ginger, to have it be more chunky than fine. If you have a slicer such as a

Benriner, use it for the pears and radishes.

For the eggplant spread

2 eggplants (total weight about 3½ pounds; 1½ kg)

¼ cup (60 ml) tahini (stirred well before measuring)

2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses

4 scallions, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro and/or mint

1 to 2 tablespoons chopped peeled fresh ginger (to taste; see headnote)

½ teaspoon ground sumac (optional)

1 lemon

Pinch or two Aleppo pepper, cayenne pepper or crushed red pepper flakes

Hot sauce

Fine sea salt

For the tartines

4 large slices country bread (toasted if you’d like)

Olive oil

Fine sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1 ripe pear, very thinly sliced

Freshly squeezed lemon juice

4 scallions, white and light green parts only, very thinly sliced

8 radishes, trimmed and very thinly sliced

A small handful of soft lettuce leaves or arugula

Pomegranate seeds (optional)

WOR K I NG A H E A D

You can make the spread up to 3 days in advance and keep it covered in the

refrigerator. You can cut the pear and sprinkle the slices with lemon juice a couple of

hours ahead, and you can slice the radishes and keep them in cold water (drain and pat

dry before using); store both the pear and the radishes in the fridge.

TO M A K E T H E S P R E A D : Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 400

degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.

Rinse the eggplants and, using the tip of a small knife, prick them all over.

Put them on the baking sheet and roast until they soften and collapse on

themselves, 40 to 60 minutes, depending on their size. Leave them on the

sheet until they’re just warm or have reached room temperature.

Cut the eggplants in half the long way; if the seeds are large, you can

remove them. Scrape the flesh into a bowl and mash it with a fork or snip it

with scissors — you’ll have about 2 cups of pulp. (If it looks watery, you

might want to spoon it into a strainer and let the excess liquid drain off.)

Blend in the tahini and pomegranate molasses, followed by the scallions,

cilantro and/or mint, ginger and sumac, if you’re using it. Grate the zest of

the lemon into the bowl and then squeeze in the juice from about half of it.

Add the pepper, a couple of shakes of hot sauce and some salt. Stir

everything around and then taste — my guess is that you’ll want more lemon

juice, but you might want more of other things as well, so tinker. (You can

use the spread now or refrigerate it for up to 3 days.)

TO M A K E T H E TA R T I N E S : Lay out the slices of bread. Brush the top of each

one lightly with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Pave the slices of

bread with overlapping slices of pear, then sprinkle with lemon juice to keep

the fruit from darkening. Spread a thick layer of eggplant over the pears and

finish by scattering over the scallions, radishes, greens and pomegranate

seeds, if you’re using them. Sprinkle with salt.

To serve, cut the tartines into finger-food-sized strips or, if they’re meant

for sit-down eating, serve with forks and sharp knives.