Eggplant Dip - Aubergine En Canton - cooking recipe

Ingredients

4 large eggplants
Sauce
4 garlic cloves
1/2 lemon, juice of
1 pinch salt
2 tablespoons anchovy paste
2 tablespoons chopped capers
1 teaspoon tomato paste (in tube) (optional)
1 bunch parsley, chopped
1/3 cup olive oil

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400\u00b0F.
Poke the eggplants with a fork and bake for 45 minutes to an hour until browned and a bit shriveled.
While the eggplants cook, prepare your sauce.
Puree the garlic cloves with lemon juice and salt.
In a small bowl blend together all the ingredients for the sauce, the pureed garlic, the anchovy paste, the capers, olive oil, tomato paste and parsley.
When the eggplants are cooked(if you press on one in the oven with a wooden spoon, it will easily cave in to the pressure of the spoon), remove from oven, let cool for a moment.
Slit down the middle and scoop pulp into a serving dish.
Discard the skins.
Cut the pulp coarsely and blend in the sauce.
Serve warm or cold.
*An alternative serving style would be to have a small eggplant per person. Each person would receive their own eggplant, opens it on their plates and serves themselves the amount of sauce they want.**.