Roasted Eggplant with Saffron Yogurt Sauce

I was really hoping that this would taste as good as it looked in the original picture that peaked my curiosity (and also that I could make it look somewhat as pretty as the original picture...). It seemed to be chock-full of ingredients that I love - eggplant, saffron, basil, yogurt...yum!

I made this while Derek was playing in tournaments so it was all my cooking - and I was slightly nervous that he would hate it given that he is not huge into eggplant as a main dish ingredient, and that it was a pure Katie meal, from start to finish. Still, I crossed my fingers and put on my imaginary chef's hat and went to town.

Roasted Eggplant with Saffron Yogurt Sauce

Ingredients
3 medium eggplants, cut into slices 2cm thick, or into wedges
olive oil for brushing
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
a handful of pomegranate seeds (did not have so used 1 segmented orange)
20 basil leaves
coarse sea salt and black pepper

Saffron Yogurt
a small pinch of saffron strands
3 tablespoons hot water
3/4 cup Greek yogurt, strained if somewhat liquidy
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil

1. For the sauce, infuse the saffron in the hot water in a small bowl for 5 minutes. Pour the infusion into a bowl containing the yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and some salt. Whisk well to get a smooth, golden sauce. Taste and adjust the salt, if necessary, then chill.

2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the eggplant slices on a roasting tray, brush (misto) with plenty of olive oil on both sides and sprinkle with salt and pepper (I add pepper AFTER roasting so it doesn't burn).

Roast for 20-30 minutes, until the slices take on a beautiful light brown colour. Let them cool down.

3. To serve, arrange the eggplant slices on a large plate, slightly overlapping. Drizzle the saffron yogurt over them, sprinkle with the pine nuts and pomegranate seeds (orange segments!) and lay the basil on top.

I served this with some whole wheat roti that I had picked up at an Indian restaurant/grocery store that came in pre-made unbaked discs. All I had to do was place the dishs on a heated griddle for about 30 seconds on one side, flip it and keep it on for about 30 seconds on the other side...and do it once more on the first side so that the bread gets nice and puffy:

This is what Derek and I had tried to achieve last time we tried to make homemade roti. They didn't quite puff up like this...perhaps the store-bought stuff is easier :)

And the complete meal:

I was so relieved when I tried this and it was FANTASTIC. I used the orange segments to take the place of the pomegranate seeds since pomegranates are not in seasons. I figured the orange segments would provide the nice burst of flavor that the seeds would have. It went so well with the roasted eggplant and toasted pinenuts and cool/slightly sweet (from the saffron) yogurt.

I thought I had made a ton of eggplant (you saw that grill pan in the photo above) and I was thinking that I'd have some leftovers for lunch the next day. Nope! Guess we'll just have to make it again!