Melitzanosalata; (Eggplant dip)

Some days are just stay in bed and listen to the cat play yukelele days.
These are also good days for decorating your room with melitzanosalata.

Yannis has recently quit smoking! The time he used to spend smoking, he now uses to eat and create painstaking, time-consuming recipes, like moussaka. He'll spend hours salting, soaking, draining, patting, frying, drying and layering the eggplants. I prefer to make salad or dip out of these vegetables. We have several varieties of these nightshade specimens at our markets, so I looked up the different kinds on the internet. I was surprised to find out that the semi-wild variety grows up to 7 feet..so I can't possibly bake that in my oven. The white ones from Santorini aren't in season now, so I'll use the purple aubergines that are common all year round . I also learned that the egg plant is the closest relative to the tobacco plant and contains nicotine. So that's why Yannis is always wanting to cook with vast amounts of egg plants! I wonder if he knows that it takes 20 lbs to get the nicotine that's in one cigarette? I wonder if he knows about the wild ones?

Eggplant Dip

 1 large eggplant, or 2 medium eggplants
 1 clove garlic, mashed
 1 medium onion, grated
 1 Tbsp. parsley
 1 large tomato, peeled and chopped
 1 tsp. oregano
 2 Tbsp. white vinegar
 salt and pepper
 olive oil
 fresh green onions for garnish, chopped

Poke the eggplant with a fork several times and bake at 350F/180C for one hour. Peel and chop the baked eggplant; add garlic (more may be added), onion, chopped tomato, parsley and salt and pepper. Add enough olive oil to moisten;add the vinegar, mix well and chill. I like to add a little mayonaise to this recipe, but traditionalists would say forget it! This is a zesty dip, served on a bed of lettuce, with tomato wedges and olives. You can also put this in the blender before chilling and then serve with crackers, bread sticks or fresh bread.