Use whatever type of eggplant looks most appealing at the market; they should be firm to the touch, with glossy skin. Small globe eggplants are easy to find, but this is also a terrific time to use long Asian types, small round white ones, or any of the cool-looking striped varieties.
Recipe information
Yield
4 Servings
Ingredients
½
3
1
5
1
1
1
1
1
Preparation
Step 1
Prepare a grill for medium-high heat and lightly oil grate. Soak onion in ice water 10 minutes to mellow its flavor. Drain, pat dry with paper towels, and transfer to a medium bowl.
Step 2
Meanwhile, toss eggplant, za’atar, and 3 Tbsp. olive oil in another medium bowl; season with salt and pepper. Grill eggplant, turning often, until tender and charred in spots, 5–8 minutes; transfer to a cutting board and let cool slightly. Halve any large rounds; set aside.
Step 3
Toss lemon with 1 Tbsp. olive oil in a small bowl; season with salt and pepper. Grill lemon, turning often, until lightly charred in spots, about 2 minutes. Transfer to cutting board and let cool slightly. Cut lemon slices in half and add to bowl with onion. Stir in mint, Sherry, and remaining 1 Tbsp. olive oil; season with salt and pepper.
Step 4
Mix garlic and labneh in another small bowl; season with salt and pepper. Spoon labneh mixture onto a platter and arrange eggplant and onion mixture over.
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Reviews (46)
Back to TopWOW. An unassuming, easily overlooked dish that ends up knocking you off your feet with flavor! And it gets better with time: I found that the overnight leftovers were even better! I used 3 beautiful farmer's market baby graffiti eggplants, roasting half in the broiler, and half on a cast iron grill pan (apartment cooking, gotta make do!). The grill pan made for a smokier, overall better result, but I had to stop half way through due to my smoke detector...still worth it though. :) The labneh is key. Greek yogurt simply would not suffice for this dish in my opinion. The flavor and texture are completely different. I also recommend topping with pine nuts toasted in butter as well as sprinkling some sumac on for garnish. Additionally, I would use some homemade preserved lemon next time instead of the grilled lemon...it was overall just weird to me. Serve with warm pita, naan, whatever you got on hand, my friend!
SA
Arlington, VA
6/22/2021
Loved this. Easy on the grill, and gives the eggplant a lovely creamy taste. Beautiful and light flavor combos, perfect for summer. Commenter below pulled the rating down because they don’t know what zaatar is, which is too bad because this is a great recipe. I also used sour cream and Greek yogurt instead of labneh and it was great.
Anonymous
Durham, NC
6/25/2020
Beautiful use of eggplant. Prepared it on my cast iron stovetop grill in NYC quarantine and felt like summer. I didn't have labneh so I used Greek yogurt and sour cream. Who gives one star because they aren't familiar with zaatar?
Anonymous
Brooklyn
4/14/2020
This was a hit last weekend! I actually did the eggplant and lemon grilling in the oven, on a cookie sheet, lower section, at 450 and results were great. As eggplants loose water double everything because people will have seconds...
Edmundo Murrugarra
Maryland
3/9/2020
WTF is za'atar or whatever?
36535
6/25/2018
Love! Made this with black lentils on the side.
Anonymous
Boston, MA
11/19/2017