Book of Yum

Roast halved eggplant in 375 oven lightly basted with olive oil and seasoned with smoked paprika and salt flesh-side-up for 30 minutes, and then turn and bake for 15 more minutes or so. Remove and reserve. When cool(ER) peel and cut into cubes.

Heat olive oil in dutch oven and saute onion, carrot, celery, and garlic cloves until onion starts to turn translucent. Add water, parsley, lemon zest, and salt and bring to a low boil until the water is infused with vegetable flavor. Add tahini and let dissolve into broth along with reserved eggplant cubes. Let simmer for a bit and then whisk in milk. Taste and season with additional salt, smoked paprika, and parsley as you like. Take off burner.

Use immersion blender to blend all ingredients into a smooth soup. (You can remove some of the garlic if you like before doing this step.) Return to the burner on low-medium and add lentils whole without blending in. Heat soup until lentils are warm.

To serve, remove from burner, let cool SLIGHTLY sprinkle a little brown rice vinegar in the soup (making sure it doesn’t separate when you add it, and if it starts to, let soup cool more or drizzle vinegar in individual servings of soup.