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-the-moment 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.
Working Ahead
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 make the spread: 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 make the tartines: 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.