Smokey Eggplant Dip

Inspiration (and almost the whole recipe) courtesy of Melissa Clark, the wonderful food writer for The New York Times.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lb small, thin eggplant
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

1. Using a gas stove top (or barbeque), place the eggplant directly on a flaming burner and char it. Really, char it. Leave it there, let is blacken and get smokey.  Don’t worry, you are not ruining it. Rotate occasionally using tongs. Don’t burn yourself. Allow to cool before proceeding with the eggplant. (It is okay if the insides turn to mush– you are going to run them through a food processor anyway. It will be good, trust me.)
2. Once cool enough to work with, peel the eggplant and put flesh into a food processor with the olive oil, garlic, Greek yogurt, lemon juice, pepper, and salt.
3. Puree. Add more salt and/or lemon based on your preferences. Done.

Serve with pita chips and a drizzle of olive oil.