Black garlic baba ghanoush + dolmas + red oil butter beans + pita = MID EAST FEAST

 

This is what I ate last night. Jealous?

An extra silky, rich, deluxe version of my pomegranate baba ghanoush with 3 cloves of black garlic substituted for the usual 1 clove of raw. Mash the black garlic into a paste with a flat knife before adding to the mix. Top with sumac and za'atar in an overbearing and distracting design.

A batch of dolmas made with this recipe, which turns out great every time. The water boiled off faster than I expected and they ended up browning on the bottom, but weirdly enough they were even more delicious that way, like toasted dolmas. I might mess this up on purpose next time.

A big pan of Ottolenghi's butter beans in red oil, with a few modifications. My spin-off: way less preserved lemon, way less oil, way more tomato paste, add sliced celery, don't bother with the last step re: grated tomato unless you really want.

Homemade pitas baked by a roommate. I am a dreadful baker and can't take credit. *hat tip*

We ate all this with Armenian braided string cheese. Leftovers taste even better. 

In pandemic world, I like to spend as little leisure time on screens as possible. All blog posts henceforth will be astonishingly short until 30% or more of my life is conducted offscreen. 

Embarrassing confession #141: I ate 10 dolmas this morning for breakfast.

Embarrassing confession #142: I lost count, actually, so it could easily have been 12.