Melitzanosalata — Greek Roasted Eggplant Dip with Garlic and Herbs

Roasted eggplant with all kinds of additions is a signature of Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines. It's amazing how much imagination goes into eggplant dishes. Just eggplant with tomatoes alone can be made in hundreds of ways.

“The East is a delicate matter,” as the idol of those who were teenagers 30 years ago used to say. For centuries Eastern sages and poets shaped culture and science, Eastern women were considered the most mysterious, and Eastern tales the longest and most beautiful. Eastern cuisine was, and still is, considered the most exotic.

Over the centuries Eastern cooking has left a noticeable mark on the cuisines of Europe. Eggplant is rightly considered one of the most beloved vegetables in the kitchens of the East and the Mediterranean. It's amazing how popular eggplant is and how many varied and delicious dishes you can make from it. There is the famous, swoon-inducing imam bayildi with its tomato filling.

In Greece, traditional ouzo (Ούζο), an anise spirit, usually comes with a spread of appetizers, and melitzanosalata — eggplant with herbs and garlic — is almost always among them.

In season, eggplants are sold everywhere and are inexpensive, and eggplant appetizers always come in handy. As one wise man says, you just have to eat your fill of them while they're in season. And he's right: eggplant caviar is always the hit of the season, and the store-bought kind never lives up to expectations. Only in summer and autumn can you make proper roasted eggplant, while the seeds haven't formed yet and the flesh is pale and tender.