Roasted Eggplant Dip with Cashew

If you are like me you find yourself at parties gobbling down eggplant dips wondering whether people would mind if you ate them by the spoonful.    I recently got my eggplant dip fix when I had dinner at a wonderful farm-to-the-table restaurant called Gather located in Berkeley.   Chef Sean Baker offers many vegan and gluten free dishes in his menu, which is so interesting you would want to taste every single dish.  Everything we ate was delicious but I especially liked a dish that contained eggplant cooked in three different ways.  The eggplant puree was incredibly velvety and I would have brought a pint home if I could.  I wasn't surprised when the waiter told me that there were macadamia nuts in the puree because of its richness and the nutty taste.  I finally tried to make it at home with cashew since I couldn't find macadamia nuts.   Even though it was different from the one I ate at Gather it was delicious nonetheless.  This must be the easiest dip to make with just four ingredients.  Pass the spoon....

My photo challenge...brown food, so hard to capture!

Roasted Eggplant and Cashew Dip

4 Chinese eggplants
1/2 cup cashew nuts
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove
Salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven at 400F.  Cut eggplants lengthwise and brush tops with 1 TBS of oil.  Roast until tender, about 20 minutes, let cool.  Process the nuts and the garlic with 1 TBS of olive oil in a food processor until a paste forms. Remove the pulp from the skin and add it to the nuts.  Process until smooth.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  

Enjoy!