♪♪ -"Cook's Country" is about more than just getting dinner on the table.

We're also fascinated by the people and stories behind the dishes.

We go inside kitchens in every corner of the country to learn how real people cook, and we look back through time to see how history influences the way we eat today.

We bring that inspiration back to our test kitchen so we can share it with you.

This is "Cook's Country."

♪♪ Today on "Cook's Country," Bryan and I make mana'eesh za'atar and baba ghanoush, Jack talks all about the world of eggplants, and Christie makes roasted beets with lemon-tahini dressing.

That's all right here on "Cook's Country."

♪♪ Middle Eastern cooking is popular all around the world.

Variations are everywhere, but sometimes it can be hard to pin down exact recipes.

But, Bryan, you recently visited a Middle Eastern bakery in Fall River, Massachusetts, and found inspiration for two Lebanese favorites.

-Yes, it was a local bakery here in Fall River, Massachusetts, called Mario's Lebanese Bakery, and it was a fantastic time.

I spent the whole morning with Mario Ellakis, the owner and head baker, watching him throw flatbreads and meat- and vegetable-filled pies into his custom-built brick oven.

It was absolutely amazing.

Two of the recipes that stuck with me from that experience were the simple mana'eesh za'atar, which is a flatbread coated with za'atar seasoning, and baba ghanoush, which he sells along with hummus and other items like that in the front of the store.

Today we are going to work through both of those recipes and we're going to start with our mana'eesh.

Okay, so I have 12 1/2 ounces of all-purpose flour here in the food processor.

We're going to add 1 1/2 teaspoons of instant yeast, 1 teaspoon of table salt, and we're just going to process that for a few seconds to combine it all.

Now I have 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of cold water.

We want to use cold water because we want the dough to stay nice and cool in the food processor and it tends to heat up in the food processor.

And to that water, we're going to add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

That's just going to enrichen the dough a little bit and make it easier to work with.

So, we'll add this water mixture while the machine is running and let it go until the dough starts to form and clears the sides of the bowl.

It takes about a minute.

Okay.

Alright.

So, the dough has come together nicely.

Now we can turn it out onto the counter.

-Now, you're not going to flour the counter?

-No, not at this point.

We will use flour later on in the process.

-Mm-hmm.

-But right now the dough is pretty resilient, not too sticky.

We just want to work it a little bit so it comes together.

So, just a few turns here on the counter.

I just want to shape the dough into a tight little ball.

Now we can put it into a greased bowl.

I like to turn and coat the top of the dough with a little bit of the oil that's in the bowl already and coat the bottom.

Cover it with plastic wrap, and we'll let this dough rise until it's doubled in size.

It takes anywhere between 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

-Sounds good.

-Okay, so now let's talk about our baba ghanoush.

-Okay.

-So, I have two 12-ounce eggplants here.

We are going to broil them until they're nice and toasty.

Before we put them in the oven, we want to go ahead and poke them a few times, about six times each with the tip of a paring knife.

This actually keeps them from exploding in the oven.

So, what we're looking for, we're going to let this go in the oven.

We have the broiler set to high.

The oven rack is about 8 inches from the broiler element, and we'll put the eggplant in there.

We're going to let it cook for 20 minutes on the first side, then we're going to flip it over and let it go for anywhere between 10 and 20 minutes on the second side.

What we're looking for is a nice charred skin.

It should smell like the aroma of burning leaves.

-That's an interesting, um... -I love that one.

-...symbol, right?

-That's my favorite thing I ever wrote.

[ Both laugh ] Alright.

I'm going to throw this in the oven.

-Alright.

-Okay, Toni, I know you could smell the eggplant.

-Smells incredible in here.

And you were so right.

-Yeah.

-That perfume is very much like burning leaves.

-Yeah, and you can see the skin is nice and hard and crackly.

The eggplant's leaching out some of its juice, so you know it's cooked and custardy inside.

Alright, so while that cools -- we're going to let it cool for a good 30 minutes before we can start handling it -- we could set up some of the base for our baba ghanoush.

-Okay.

-I have a couple of garlic cloves here.

I just want to smash and mince it into a fine paste.

-Smashing is such an important step for leaching out those oils that are in the garlic.

-So, we'll just mince it like this.

Okay.

And then we can slide this garlic into our bowl here.

Alright, and to our garlic, we're going to add a tablespoon of lemon juice.

Alright, so we'll add lemon juice and a teaspoon of salt, and we'll let all this mixture sit.

So, combining the lemon juice with the garlic really helps take the sharpness away from the garlic.

So we're still going to get plenty of garlic flavor because we have a ton of garlic in there.

-Mm-hmm.

-But it's also not going to be as astringent and bitter.

So, we'll let this sit here while our eggplant cools and we'll come back and start making our baba ghanoush.

Our eggplant has had a chance to cool, and now we can begin cutting it up.

Alright, so we're just going to split it lengthwise, kind of splay it open.

-Mm.

-You can see I'm just going to take a spoon here and scoop out the flesh.

It's so luscious and custardy here.

-Yeah.

-I love eggplant.

So, kind of want to take care not to get any of those bits of skin.

Now we're just going to run our knife through it, really just trying to break up any of these long strands of eggplant.

So, we just want it fine enough so we can scoop it up with our mana'eesh very easily.

-Mm-hmm.

-We don't want any long strands.

Okay, so we can slide this into our bowl with our marinated garlic.

-And already, there's beginning to be a really terrific smell in here.

-Yeah.

So, to that, we're going to add 1/4 cup of tahini.

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

Alright, so we're just going to mix this up.

Now we just want to let this sit and let those flavors start to blend.

You want to give it at least 20 minutes, but if you can go longer, it's only going to get better for it.

So, let's talk about za'atar.

Za'atar is one of those spice blends that you can buy.

It's generally, at the very least, a combination of thyme, oregano, sumac, and sesame seeds.

We're going to blend our own za'atar here.

We're going to add 2 tablespoons of dried thyme to our mortar, along with 1 tablespoon of dried oregano, and we're going to pulverize these to a fine powder.

And that takes about a minute.

-Oh, wow.

That's really potent.

-Alright, and this is what we're looking for -- nice, fine powder, very fragrant.

And to that, we're going to add 1 1/2 tablespoons of sumac.

-I love sumac.

-I love sumac.

I love how sour it smells.

-Mm-hmm.

-Then we're going to add a tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds.

Finally, 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

That's table salt there.

We're just going to mix this up.

So, this recipe makes a little bit more than we need for our mana'eesh.

-Mm-hmm.

-Makes about 5 tablespoons.

We only need 3 tablespoons.

So we're going to take 3 tablespoons of our za'atar mixture and put it into a bowl here.

And to that, we're going to also add 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

And this is going to be the topping for our mana'eesh.

Just give that a mix.

Okay, so we can set that aside.

Now we can finally turn our attention back to our dough.

-Look at that beautiful dough.

-Looks gorgeous, right?

-Yeah.

-So, it's doubled in size.

It's been a couple of hours.

Now we're going to divide our dough into three equal portions.

And whenever I do this, just to make sure it's all even, I like to weigh the big dough first, see where we're at.

Alright, so it's just...

It's about 21 ounces.

So, back onto our counter.

Just kind of eyeball it.

Okay, so now we can just take our dough balls and just kind of cup them on the counter and just roll them into tight little balls there.

-Mm.

-And we'll put those onto our sheet.

Alright, now we're going to cover our dough with our plastic wrap, and we're going to let this sit for 15 minutes so the dough relaxes again and it's easier to roll out.

Our dough has been resting for 15 minutes, and we're ready to roll out.

Toni, would you like to give me a hand?

-Yes, I would love to do that.

-Please, please, can you give me a hand?

[ Both laugh ] -I would love to help you out.

-Okay.

Here is a ball of dough for you.

-They're so beautiful.

-Oh, wait till you start working with it.

Want to sprinkle a little flour on your counter?

-Okay.

Not much?

-Yeah, that's perfect.

-Okay.

-And maybe a little bit on top of the dough, as well.

And then we are going to start off with our fingers and we're just going to press the dough into an approximate 6- to 7-inch round.

So, I like to just poke it.

This is just to kind of get it started.

And now we're going to roll these into 9- to 10-inch circles.

So, I'm notoriously bad at rolling out perfectly round circles, so I like to press from the center and give the dough a quarter turn each time.

-What's the size we're going for here?

-Between 9 and 10 inches.

-Okay.

-The dough is very forgiving.

Okay, so once we're at that 9- to 10-inch mark, we're going to use our baking peels.

So, you want to flour your baking peel.

And I always like to go heavy on this flour.

So, then we can just pick up the edge of the dough.

-Yep.

-And quickly slide underneath.

-[ Laughs ] -Then we're going to spread 1 1/2 tablespoons of our za'atar olive oil mixture.

We'll put it in the center of the dough.

Just eyeball that extra 1/2 tablespoon.

Want to spread it all the way to about 1/2 inch from the edge.

What we're going to do is something that I saw Mario doing there at the bakery with his mana'eesh.

He took his fingers and just docked the dough with his fingertips about six times.

So it was like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

-Do you have to say "boom, boom" when you do it?

-You got to say "boom, boom, boom," or it doesn't work.

-Okay.

-You should've heard the booms coming from Mario's kitchen.

[ Both laugh ] It's all booms all day.

[ Chuckles ] Wait.

Boom.

-Oh!

-Yeah.

Okay.

I'll just do the booms for you.

Go ahead.

-Okay, because you... -You did three without booms, so I'm not sure yours are gonna taste right.

-Okay, so the remaining ones are... -[Together] Boom, boom, boom.

-Alright, that's great.

We have baking steels set up in there.

They've been in there for a good hour, preheating.

Oven is at 500 degrees.

Oven rack is adjusted to the middle position.

And we're going to slide these in there and they're going to bake for a good five minutes.

Alright, Toni, let's pull these out of the oven.

-It looks gorgeous.

-Oh, wow.

-Golden.

-Perfect.

-Look at those air pockets.

Ooh, my goodness.

-Nice and bubbling and gorgeous.

Our mana'eesh is cooling.

Our baba ghanoush has been resting for a good 20 minutes or so, and we're going to taste it to adjust the seasoning if we need to.

-Mm.

How is it?

-Mmm.

Oh, it's so good.

-[ Chuckles ] -I'm going to add a smidge more lemon juice to it and a pinch of salt.

And so now we can transfer this to our serving bowl.

I like to use a nice, wide, shallow serving bowl.

-Oh, it smells so good.

-Spread it around.

I like to create these little swooshes in there because we're going to drizzle it with olive oil.

-Mm.

-And I like the olive oil to pool in those little swooshes.

-Very nice.

-So, this is 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

Nothing better than olive oil with fresh bread.

And we'll sprinkle it with a little bit of parsley.

That's a tablespoon of chopped parsley here.

Alright, so I'm going to break bread with you, and I say we just tear it up and just start dunking.

-I love these little air pockets.

-Here's half of our mana'eesh for you.

-Thank you.

-Alright.

Let me give you a little bit of baba on your plate there.

-Ooh, I'm so excited.

-Ready to dig in?

-Okay.

Ready?

-Let's do this.

-Let's go in for it.

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

-Oh, my goodness.

-That's so good, right?

-You nailed it.

The subtlety of the garlic.

It's in there, but it's not overpowering.

It doesn't, like, scream out.

It's really nice and balanced and mellow.

The pungency of the herbs in these little, neat pockets.

-Yeah.

-I'm infatuated with the pockets.

-Oh, me too.

I love how the sumac kind of gives this nice sourness to -- to the bread.

-Mm-hmm.

-But it's very subtle.

-Thanks for making this with me today, Bryan.

-You're very welcome.

I loved it.

-If you'd like to make this warm, spiced Lebanese bakery favorite at home, make a quick yeasted dough in the food processor.

Create your own spice spread with za'atar and olive oil.

And char eggplant under the broiler for a smoky baba ghanoush.

From "Cook's Country," a fantastic mana'eesh za'atar and baba ghanoush.

-It's good stuff, right?

-It is good stuff.

It's my new appetizer.

-Oh!

♪♪ -I had an eggplant epiphany about 10 years ago.

You see, I used to think I didn't like eggplant.

I thought they were bitter and they were oily.

But eggplant is my wife's favorite summer vegetable.

And so she said, "It's a problem.

You need to like eggplant."

So I gave them another chance, and I learned they're not what I thought they were.

I think I had a scarring experience as a child with a bitter eggplant.

And it turns out they're not bitter.

They've been bred to be much less bitter than they were decades ago.

The other thing is, I learned how to shop for them.

And you want to use smaller eggplant.

And you want to salt them, not to remove bitterness, but to collapse the cell walls, remove moisture so they don't soak up so much oil and they can soak up the other flavors in the dish.

So, I have six of my favorite eggplant varieties here on the table.

Let's start with the one that's probably the most familiar, which is the globe eggplant.

It does a good job of holding its shape when it's cooked, even though it's pretty large.

But because it's large, I kind of avoid it.

It has more seeds.

It can be a little bit slightly bitter.

I prefer the Italian, sometimes labeled baby eggplant.

And you'll see with this one, it's super glossy.

That's a good sign that it's a fresh, delicious eggplant.

So look for glossy skin, no matter the variety.

Next up, this dark purple, almost black is a Japanese eggplant.

The texture is super creamy.

Does a lovely job of holding its shape in a braise.

Similar traits from a textural perspective with the Chinese eggplant.

The big difference here is obviously it's more of a lavender color than a deep purple, but does a great job, again, with braises and has a lovely, creamy texture.

This cute little eggplant down here, this is a Thai eggplant.

It's a little grassy, hints of vegetal notes.

It works really well with big, bold flavors, let's say in a Thai curry.

And finally at the end, these cute little Indian eggplants.

I like to cut them crossways here through the equator and kind of preserve their round shape and cook them that way.

They've got a lovely purple color and taste very much similar to the rest of the eggplants here on the table.

Look for eggplant next time you're shopping and maybe you can have your own epiphany in your kitchen.

♪♪ -When I make roasted beets at home, I don't really give it much thought.

I just wrap them in foil and put them in the oven at whatever oven temperature, and when they're done, I pull them out.

And they always taste okay, but today, Christie's promised to show me a new method where the beets really have good flavor.

-That's right, Julia.

Most recipes for roasted beets are actually just steamed, and then they're peeled and they're cut.

-Yep.

-And there's nothing wrong with that.

-Mm-hmm.

-I mean, it's a long cook time, and so it makes sense to use the oven for that even temperature, so you get nice, thoroughly cooked beets.

-Yep.

-But you miss out on the opportunity for nice browning.

-That's a good point, because in the foil packets, there's no browning.

It is -- Right, it's just steaming in there.

-Right.

And if you have the peels on the beets, there's no point in browning them, because you have to peel them anyway.

-Good point.

-So, we're going to start with beets that we're going to peel and prep before they go into the oven.

-Okay.

Interesting.

Prepping when they're raw.

-Yes.

So, I have 2 pounds of red beets here.

-Okay.

-And I'm going to trim them.

Get rid of those tails.

-I notice you're wearing gloves.

[ Both laugh ] -I am.

I've learned a thing or two in my time prepping beets.

So, I'm going to peel these beets.

We peel them first, then... We're working with room-temperature beets.

-Right.

-And I can use a vegetable peeler, so it makes it pretty easy.

In addition to peeling the beets, I'm also going to cut them into wedges.

So, we'll make these wedges about 1/2-inch thick.

And cutting them into the wedges is going to give us a lot more surface area to build all that flavorful browning.

-Makes good sense.

-Alright.

Now I think I'm safe to de-glove.

[ Both laugh ] With the peels on, you really can't add any flavor to the beets.

-Mm-hmm.

-But we've gotten rid of those peels, so now we can add some aromatics and roast them with the beets for extra flavor.

-Cool.

-So, I have 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

And then I have 12 sprigs of fresh thyme.

-Mmm!

-So nice.

And two bay leaves.

And I have four garlic cloves here.

Now, I'm not going to overdo it with the garlic.

I just want to infuse it with some nice garlic flavor.

So I'm going to smash the garlic.

Finally, we need to add some seasoning.

So I have a teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.

So, we'll give these a toss and make sure especially that oil is all over the beets.

Alright.

That looks pretty good.

Now we can move into our dish.

So, we'll put the beets in a 13x9-inch baking dish.

Just spread these out a bit.

I said we were going to roast the beets, and we are, but we're going to start by steaming them.

-Mm-hmm.

-So I have 3/4 cup of water.

So, now we'll put some foil on top.

Make a nice tight seal, and I'm going to put these in the oven.

It's set to 450 degrees.

-Pretty high.

-It's hot.

Yeah.

[ Laughs ] The rack's in the middle position.

And we'll roast these until they're nice and tender when I stick them with a knife.

And that'll take anywhere between an hour and an hour and a quarter.

-Okay.

-Alright.

So, we very carefully take off our foil.

-Ooh!

So, all that moisture really has evaporated, and they've started to brown around the edges.

-They have.

So, I just want to make sure that they're nice and tender.

That looks pretty perfect.

-Yep.

-So, it's been about a little over an hour.

So we've gotten them to the tender point.

Now we want to work on even more browning, caramelizing around the edges.

That's the whole point of this recipe.

-Okay.

-I'm just going to leave them as they are, and then I'll just put them back in the oven for another 15 to 20 minutes, until we really see that caramelizing along the edges.

-Ooh, now I can smell them.

-Wow.

-Those... -Look at that.

-Look at those, Christie.

Those are gorgeous.

-Those are some brown beets.

-Finally, the beets are caramelized.

-You can really see it around the edges, but I mean, on the bottoms... Oh, this is what we're looking for.

-Okay.

-And we're going to taste that browning.

But... -Those herbs do look spent.

-[ Laughs ] We never really want to eat the bay leaves.

-Yeah, right?

-But pretty much everything is done at this point.

-Yeah.

So we'll take out the thyme sprigs.

I think I've got all the garlic.

We'll let these cool for about 20 minutes, because the nice thing about this dish is you can serve it at room temperature or warm.

-I love it.

-Julia, the beets are just about cool, and we're going to build a really nice sauce that's going to be a perfect compliment to those sweet, earthy beets.

-Mmm!

-We'll make a lemon-tahini dressing.

-Love it.

-That's going to hit all of those complementary notes.

So, tangy, creamy, a little bitter from that tahini.

It's going to be great.

-Alright.

-So, we'll start with tahini.

Add a nice creaminess.

It's kind of an instant emulsifier.

-Mm-hmm.

-And 2 tablespoons of lemon juice.

-Mm, that'll brighten it up.

-Mm-hmm.

A tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.

And then a tablespoon of water.

So, this sauce will tighten up pretty quickly from that tahini.

The water will loosen it and balance the flavors a little bit.

We roasted the beets with some thyme and some garlic.

-Mm-hmm.

-So we're going to go back to those flavors... -Ah.

-...to kind of help it meld with the beets.

-Makes sense.

-Make everything go together.

So, I have a teaspoon of minced thyme.

And I have one garlic clove that I've minced.

And then 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

We'll just whisk this together.

And it's going to thicken as it sits.

-Mm-hmm.

-I think any tahini-based sauce does.

So you can actually make this up to two days ahead, but when you go to serve it, you'll probably have to loosen it up a little bit with either some water or some lemon juice.

You can see already -- very creamy.

Oh, this looks great.

Now, we're not going to serve this on top of the beets.

-Okay.

-Because we have beautiful, gemlike beets.

We don't want to hide their light under -- under a blanket.

[ Chuckles ] So I'm going to put the sauce on the bottom of the platter that we're serving.

-Very cool.

-That way, we can show off the beets.

And, you know, you don't have to worry about getting too much sauce on them.

-Mm-hmm.

I love how the sauce just sets off their glossy... You called them little gems.

That's exactly what they look like.

-Okay, now we're not done with our colors and textures.

I have 2 teaspoons of toasted sesame seeds... -Mmm.

-...that I'm going to sprinkle on top, and that's going to echo the sesame flavor from the tahini.

So, I have 2 teaspoons of minced chives -- a little herby flavor.

-I could totally see doing this for a holiday meal.

I mean, this looks worthy of company.

-And it's just a...

It's such an interesting twist on something people have had before.

-Mm-hmm.

-But, you know, this is not your grandma's beet.

-Alright.

Now for a beet.

-Mmm!

That is delicious.

-Mm-hmm.

-You know, beets are known for their sweeter flavor, but the caramelized bits on the outside, it's almost candied.

-And it's so savory.

-Mm-hmm.

-It's sort of like "pow, pow, pow, pow!"

all over.

[ Both laugh ] If you're not experiencing that in your mouth, then you've wasted your time.

-Well, and I also love the savory sauce.

It's almost nutty... -Mm-hmm.

-...with the sweetness of the beets and that dark roasted flavor.

Christie, this is a game changer for beets.

-I'm so glad you like it.

-Thank you for showing me how to do this.

There you have it.

If you want to make the best roasted beets, start by peeling the raw beets and cutting them into wedges.

Cook covered with aromatics, then uncovered to brown, and serve with a lovely tahini sauce.

From "Cook's Country," a game-changing recipe for roasted beets with lemon-tahini dressing.

You can find this recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with select episodes and our product reviews, at our website -- CooksCountry.com/tv.

These are incredible.

I could eat this whole platter myself.

-Mm-hmm.

-Easily.

-Visit our website, where you can sign up for the free "Cook's Country" e-mail newsletter for even more of the recipes and stories you love from the magazine and the TV show.

CooksCountry.com/Cooks.

Want more "Cook's Country"?

Subscribe to Cook's Country magazine.

Every issue includes guaranteed fail-proof recipes, "On the Road" stories, eight "Dinner Tonight" recipe cards, trusted reviews, and more.

Get one year of Cook's Country for $19.95.

To subscribe, scan the QR code on your screen or visit CooksCountry.com/TVsubscribe.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪