With apologies to Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan!

I made some homemade tapanade yesterday based on a recipe I found on the Gluten-free goddess Website. And I thought it was missing a little flavor but I loved the consistency and texture. So I tossed in a half of a jar of our local GourGanics USDA organic salsa and it was AMAZING! I don’t know how many folks out there like tapanade, but, thanks to the character Nevel on the Nickelodeon show ICarly, eggplant tapanade has become a big hit with the kids here in Fairfield Connecticut. We serve it with crusty bread or crostini. Some times I also toss it with hot pasta and serve it as a dinner or save some to make a cold pasta salad for a picnic. But why do we call it misogynistic tapanade, you ask? Read on, my friends.

We make our tapanade using small organic eggplant I grow in my garden. Here’s a little “folk” fact about eggplant, some Italians swear that they can only use the “male” eggplant to make eggplant parmesean and other dishes. What? Sexual discrimination extends to produce now? Here’s the thinking: Some Italians swear that Male eggplants tend to have fewer seeds, and are therefore less bitter than female eggplants.  So, you should check out the dimple on your little eggplant’s bottom before you take it home.  The dimple can be round or oval in shape. The oval makes it a MALE.  Hmmm… I’m getting bitter just thinking about this. SO, take your Male eggplant home and roast it ! In the case of eggplant, smaller is always better. They taste better if they are small and shiny.

Here’s what you need:

2 smaller USDA ORGANIC eggplants (you can find local this time of year)

Sea salt

1/2 organic red onion (chopped rough)

½ jar Gourganics Spicy

2-3 fresh, local, USDA organic plum tomatoes (chopped rough)

up to 1/s cup  USDA organic Extra virgin olive oil

The juice of one USDA organic lemon

Fresh and local USDA organic parsley and basil to taste (chopped fine)

1/2 cup ripe USDA organic olives (chopped rough)

1 teaspoon USDA organic agave nectar or cane sugar

1 tablespoon capers (chopped rough)

1 tablespoon or so fresh parsley, finely chopped for serving

Here’s what to do:

Preheat the oven to 400ºF.

Peel the eggplants and cut them lengthwise into four pieces each. Lay them in a roasting pan and sprinkle both sides of the eggplant with sea salt. Set aside for no more than 10 minutes (that whole salting overnight technique is another bit of folklore and not necessary).

Meanwhile, rough chop the onion and the tomatoes and fresh herbs.

Blot any extra moisture off eggplant. Add the onion pieces, garlic and tomatoes. Drizzle it all with olive oil and lemon juice. Stir.

Face the tomatoes cut side up. Roast every thing in the oven for an hour. The eggplant will be tender. Remove the pan from the oven and let it cool a bit.

Spoon the eggplant mixture into a food processor bowl; add the olives and agave nectar; cover and pulse until the mixture is finely diced- or you can make it less chunky and puree it. Add GourGanics USDA organic Spicy or Mild Salsa. mix by hand and scoop it out into a bowl and add the chopped capers and chopped fresh herbs. Taste to see if it needs anything like a little more GourGanics or salt then chill for at least an hour.

Enjoy with crusty bread or really crisp crackers! I also love to boil a little gluten-free pasta and serve hot or cold.