AAAHHHH, I’m covered from head to toe in red itchy spots. Chicken pox? Measles? The plague? Nope, according to the doctor I am having an allergic reaction to something I ate. No idea what. I’ve never had a food allergy that I know of, food and I are usually friends.
scratch scratch But moving on, maybe typing up this week’s post will be a good distraction for my fingers.
In trying to figure out how I was going to serve this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe, Hummus, I remembered that I recently missed another recipe which might go nicely, namely the Eggplant Tartine. Heck, throw some olives in and call it mixed antipasti I say.
scratch scratch
Hummus is something which I buy somewhat regularly and really enjoy. It’s a tasty and easy, all-purpose kind of food to have around, either as a dip or spread for sandwiches. But somehow, not once in many years did it ever occur to me to make it myself. And now I am left to wonder, why the heck not?! This week Dorie showed me how incredibly easy hummus is to make at home. Throw all of the ingredients into a food processor and hit the On button. Done! Seriously easy. Not just that, but it turns out that I usually have all of the necessary ingredients in my cupboard. I will absolutely be making this again. We served it sprinkled with a bit of cayenne and olive oil, and with fresh veggies for dipping.
scratch scratch
Eggplant tartine, on the other hand, is something which I had never heard of before. In this recipe, Dorie plays fast and loose with the term ‘tartine’ and has us using roasted eggplant slices as the bread, which is then topped with a tasty fresh tomato salad. Sounded a little odd to be honest and I wasn’t really sure how it was all going to come together. Turns out I needn’t have worried because it was actually pretty tasty. Messy to eat for sure, but tasty. If I were to make this again, I would probably just cube the eggplant and toss the whole thing together into a salad to make it easier to eat.
scratch scratch When will it stop itching!!!
one expat's life 
I sure hope that itching stops soon! Your table looks wonderful and I agree the tartine is better as a salad. I like the dish where you put the hummus!
I hope you feel better soon! And yes, the eggplant would have been much better all cut up as a salad! Nice catchup!
Oh, you poor thing…I hope you figure out the trigger! Great looking hummus and tartine…I think the eggplant salad makes a lot more sense, too!
Oh no! I hope the itching stops soon for you. That has to be so frustrating.
Hummus is so crazy easy to make at home, isn’t it 🙂
All my kids are allergic to various things so I feel for you!
Your dishes look amazing! And really need to get my act together and make the tartine, looks so good!
Both dishes look great! A Dorie two-fer!
Rose , both your Hummus and your Eggplant Tartine look so nice and mediterranean! Love the presentation!
Hope you will be feeling better soon – maybe try the “Cetirizin Hexal Tropfen” (OTC, no prescription required) that I keep for the kids for all kinds of different allergic reactions. They work really well, usually within 15 minutes – just a thought.
Have a good weekend1
Hope you get feeling better soon. Your Hummus and Eggplant Tartine look delicious. Glad you enjoyed the recipes. Have a nice weekend!
Very nicely done, Rose! I’d never thought of making Hummus before, either. I guess I thougth it had some secret Middle Eastern ingredient in it! Unfortunatly, even thougth I bought everything for this recipe, I ran out of time to make it this week. But, I was surprised to find Tahini at the regular grocery store. I’m sure we’ll make this often. Feel better!
Look at that spread! Beautiful!! Wish we could all come over and enjoy w/a glass of Friday night wine. Well done!
Rose, Both of your dishes look wonderfully delicious!! Love that you served your hummus with a drizzle of olive oil…looks so appetizing! I sure hope you stop itching soon…and I hope you find out what caused it! Great job!! Happy weekend!
Rose, good luck with the allergy and the itching.. Sounds quite annoying. Does Benadryl help?
I love your Middle Eastern spread. It’s perfect! What a great pairing. I like your French plates too. Hope you have a great weekend, and that you stop itching.
Hope whatever it is clears up soon. Bummer!! I like the sounds of this dish.
Ohh Rose!!! I hope the spots go soon and the itching stops!!! Your hummus looks fabulous exactly like those we were served when we lived in Saudi Arabia! You caught the Middle Eastern vibe just right…even while scratching 🙂 Wishes for an itch free weekend 🙂
I wonder what your allergic to? hmmm,…. I LOVED the eggplant dish a lot!! But we cubed our eggplant the second time and decided that frying them like I do for eggplant parm would be really good too! 🙂
I love the cayenne and oil on top, great combination. Hope you find out soon what is
causing the itch, that would drive me nuts. Have a great weekend.
I hope your reaction turns out to be easy to deal with. Your ‘scratch, scratch’ illustrated it perfectly. I like the idea of cubing the eggplant and making a salad version, though we quite enjoyed the tartine version. You picked a perfect catch up to accompany your hummus, which looks beautiful with the cayenne and olive oil garnish.
Great job on both dishes. I bought the imgredients for but never made the eggplant tartine.
This was …..scratch scratch…….a hilarious post to read. But I am laughing with you and wish I could send a salve to STOP THAT ITCH !!! Boy were you right about us having similar weeks- between both recipes we knocked out and our spot on similar reactions to both – seems amazing we were in different kitchens, thousands of miles apart. You photos are lovely and I want to sit right down at that table. (even our salt was the same 🙂 Next time I am drizzling the olive oil like you did – great idea !
Rose I think its a great idea to cube the eggplant into the topping! I loved the salsa but didn’t care for the assembly of the thing! Olive oil was missing from this hummus but I think lots of us added some:) Have you by any chance eaten lots of shellfish lately? I had an iodine reaction one time similar to what you’re talking about….scratch scratch….just happened the one random time out of the blue.
Rose, This is my suggestion. Take the scratching and allergy back to your doctor and tell him/her, that you don’t want it. You simply cannot have a food allergy. Not acceptable for a food blogger par excellence. Seriously, I know that scratching can be maddening and I hope you got some relief. Leave it to Doristas to provide several antidotes. I hope one of them worked and that you are back in business. Although I made the Lima Bean Dip to coincide with my South American trip (yes, you must visit South America), I am going to make the hummus also. Your presentation was wonderful – I love a table filled with “lots of stuff”. Yes, the tartines were messy!
Oh no! I hope the scratching stops soon, I’m so sorry. Your dinner spread looks excellent. I love having appetizers/mixed antipasti for dinner.
Looks like a lovely meal!