Eggplant Gazpacho

I picked this recipe for two reasons. First, my mother had introduced me to gazpacho during a sweet mother/son lunch date which we'd had in early 80's at a Houston restaurant near Greenspoint. At the time, retail in Bryan/College Station was so bad that Mom needed to come all the way to Houston to get an artificial christmas tree from the Greenspoint Sears, or, it could be that she just wanted to have a lunch date with her son. I was a little wary of ordering it though if your mother insists, well then you go ahead and order it! I was able to put aside my disagreements with raw tomatoes and actually enjoyed the cold soup known as gazpacho. My second reason for selecting this recipe is that my father's garden is a pretty consistent producer of eggplants and tomatoes. The recipe idea came from the magazine, "bon appetit".

Recipe: Eggplant Gazpacho

2 large eggplants, halved lenthwise

5 tablespoons olive oil

4 ripe tomatoes stemmed and quartered

2 medium onions coarsely chopped

2 garlic cloves sliced thin

3/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

3/4 cup plain whole milk yogurt

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup tahini (sesame paste)*

2 cups water

extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling


*for better or worse, I substituted almond butter



Bake the eggplant, face sides down drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with pepper and salt, at 325 degrees for 1-1/2 hours. Afterwards, scoop out the large seed pockets, there'll still be generous flesh left, go ahead and scoop the flesh apart from the skin, dispose the skins. Having placed the flesh in a bowl, set aside.

Make fresh tomato juice by placing the tomato quarters into a blender then blend coarse. Strain the resulting tomato jam pressing the solids to get adquate juice. Discard the solids and set the tomato juice aside.

In a frying pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil carmelize the onions, add the garlic when the onions are about 2/3 of the way done. During the last minute, add the cumin and cayenne pepper. Finishing that, now add the yogurt, tahini and lemon juice. Stir well and remove from heat. Now, stir in the eggplant.

Place about 1/2 of the eggplant mixture into a blender and also add 3/4 cup of tomato juice along with 1 cup of water. Puree this mixture until smooth then strain into a large bowl. Repeat with the remaining eggplant mixture, 3/4 cup tomato juice and 1 cup water.

Don't forget to season with salt and pepper to taste!


Personal thoughts: This was a fair enough recipe and I'd use it again if I saw that dad had a bumper crop of eggplants. The tahini and cayenne pepper might be a one shot purchases which can make this recipe a little problematic. I've read where combining tahini with peanut butter can make for an enjoyable sandwich. For most people a smallish taste of this gazpacho will be enough, so portions should be kept small. I'd suggest a half cup with some type of garnish as the soup's pasty tan color is not overly appealing. I'd like to try this recipe subbing in canned tomato juice or V-8 juice for the fresh tomato juice.