Canapé…Lamb and Baba ganoush

Canapé…Lamb and Baba ganoush

  This simple lamb and baba ganoush topped crouton becomes a real talking point once your guests experience the delicious burst of balsamic. Creating a canape can be a little daunting, this one’s not! Here’s the recipe….

Ingredients

• 1 sourdough baguette
• olive oil
• sea salt & pepper
• 3 medium eggplants
• 3 to 4 large spoons of tahini (roughly half a cup)
• 1 fat clove of garlic (or two small ones I suppose), crushed
• Juice of a lemon
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lamb loin (aprox 250g)
• olive oil & seasoning for the lamb
• 50g jar Peninsula Larder Balsamic Flavour Pearls
• herb garnish – we used micro cress (you can buy it a Safeway)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 C Slice the baguette, spread onto a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil and season well before baking until lightly golden. Set aside to cool.

If you have a gas stove, char the eggplants by putting them directly on the bars of the stove, over the burner. Use tongs to turn them until the skin is blackened and crisp all over. This should take about five to ten minutes. If you have an electric stove, you can do this step by charring the eggplants under the griller, or just skip it (although then you won’t have as smoky a flavour). Cover a baking tray with foil and put the eggplants on it. Roast them in the oven for half an hour until you can easily poke a knife through. Cool. Cut the eggplants in half and scoop and scrape the flesh away from the skin. Put it in a blender or food processor. Add all the other ingredients and give it a whizz! Job done. Season to taste.

Now for the lamb….rub the loin with olive oil and season. Sear in a hot pan until medium rare to medium. Set aside to cool.

And to finish………… Top each crouton with a generous wipe of baba ganoush, a slice of lamb and a few Balsamic Flavour Pearls. Add a sprig or two of herbs and tah dah….

If desired the croutons, lamb and baba ganoush can be prepared a day in advance…just assembling at the last minute before your guests arrive. (or you could just buy a great quality prepared baba ganoush from your fav deli and a few slices of rare roast beef…..shhhh…)

*Vegetarian friends?   Just leave out the lamb and simply add a slice of chargrilled zucchini or capsicum.

Enjoy….

Until next time…..

The Peninsula Larder Team