Beetroot Hummus and Baba ganoush with Flatbreads

So it's not a roast but I fancied something snacky to go with our Sunday cheese board. Inspired by the delicious starter from the wedding I'm making a beetroot hummus. To go with this I thought Baba Ganoush would be great. As it's not the best weather I'm just roasting the Aubergines, otherwise I would have BBQd them to get that gorgeous smokey taste.

For the Hummus, put all of the ingredients into a mixing jug and blitz with a hand blender. Season to taste to your liking. Yes it really is that simple. Then keep in the fridge to chill and let the flavours develop.

For the Baba ganoush dish, start by quartering a large Aubergine. Place it on a baking tray and drizzle with Olive Oil, salt and pepper. Bake at 180 degrees for about 40 minutes until nicely roasted. 

At the same time, I halved a whole garlic and drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. I bake these at the same time as the aubergines as I love roasted garlic as an accompaniment, just to dip your bread into, and I want to use a couple of the cloves in the Baba ganoush.

Once the Aubergines are baked I put them under a hot grill to char them a little. Ideally, as I said earlier, I'd have put them on the BBQ to do this. But this still makes a great dip.

Scoop the Aubergine flesh (with maybe a little of the skin) into another dish, along with a good squeeze of lemon juice, olive oil, parsley, basil and two or three of the roasted garlic cloves. Blend and let cool in the fridge.

Once both dips have cooled, Serve with a good hunk of bread, a cheese board and a nice salad. Yummy. Serious garlic breath though ;)

For the Hummus (serves abut 4):
1 can of chick peas, drained
2 tablespoons of light tahini
Juice of 1 lemon
2 small cooked beetroots
Good glug of olive oil
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
Salt and pepper to season
1 garlic clove

For the Baba Ganoush (again serves about 4):
1 large Aubergine
lemon juice
Olive oil
Fresh parsley and basil
1 clove of raw garlic, or 2 cloves of roasted garlic.
salt and pepper to season