Greek-style eggplant dip

Ready in 40 mins Makes about 2¼ cups

2 eggplants

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed to a paste with

1 tsp salt

1 large tomato, cored and finely chopped ¼ cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

leaves, plus extra to garnish

2 Tbsp finely chopped red onion

2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

2 tsp dukkah, to garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 200C fan bake and line an oven tray with baking paper for easy clean-up. Place whole eggplants on tray and bake until they start to blacken and deflate when you touch them (about 30 minutes). It’s important they are completely collapsed, if not they won’t mash.

Leave to cool, then peel and discard the charred skins. Place the eggplant flesh on a board and chop coarsely. Transfer to a bowl, add the olive oil and mash until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and mix with a fork until evenly combined.

Garnish with parsley and dukkah, if using, before serving. If not using at once, chill and store in a covered container. It will keep for 4 or 5 days.

Match this with ... Lime Rock White Knuckle Hill Central Hawke’s Bay Pinot Noir 2013 ($60)

When it was first released, I raved about this wine. Tasting it again, nine years on, I feel like I should have hollered louder. The White Knuckle is a vertigo-inducingly steep vineyard site where large life insurance policies are necessary for the person charged with tackling it with the tractor. Only made in exceptional years, and having been carefully cellared for so long, it now smells like moss-covered kauri trunks fallen in the forest – ancient trees soaked with recent rains and slowly merging with the earth. It’s a lush and sexy smell to match a succulent, exotic palate. Delicious and desirable. limerock.co.nz

— Yvonne Lorkin

ANNABEL SAYS: This is such a handy dip to serve with vegetable bites or toasted flatbreads and it makes a great partner for the lamb. If you are cooking over wood embers, prick the eggplants in a few places to prevent them from exploding and place them whole into the heat of the fire. Turn after 5-8 minutes and continue cooking for another 5-8 or until eggplants are deeply blackened and completely collapsed. You will think you have burnt them. Leave to cool then remove the skins and rinse to remove any char still on the skin.