This is a delicious hybrid recipe. It’s a riff on a hummus recipe we ran on Blue Cayenne back in April of 2019 here
It occurred to us that a rich topping of roasted grape (or cherry) tomatoes and roasted eggplant cubes would complement the creamy hummus. It did. Gloriously!
The roasted tomato portion of this dish was taken from Yotam Ottolenghi’s wonderful cookbook Simple. That cookbook is available through your local bookstore or on Amazon here.
Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen.
Roasted Tomatoes and Eggplant Atop Hummus
June 19, 2025
Ingredients
- 1 recipe hummus (https://bluecayenne.com/creamy-hummus-a-culinary-whodunnit)
- 12 oz. grape or cherry tomatoes
- 3 T. olive oil
- 3/4 t. cumin seeds
- 1/2 t. light brown sugar
- 3 garlic cloves (thinly-sliced)
- 3 thyme sprigs
- 6 oregano sprigs
- 1 lemon (3 strips of peel and zest of the remainder)
- Flaked sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper
- 1/2 globe eggplant (cut into small cubes)
- A generous pinch of urfa pepper for decoration (optional)
Directions
- Step 1 Prepare one portion of hummus. (https://bluecayenne.com/creamy-hummus-a-culinary-whodunnit). Set aside.
- Step 2 Wash and dry cherry tomatoes. In a small bowl, combine tomatoes, olive oil, cumin, sugar, garlic, thyme, oregano sprigs, lemon strips, 1/2 t. flaked salt, and freshly-ground black pepper. Mix and set aside,
- Step 3 In an oven preheated to 425 degrees F., spread the tomatoes on a baking sheet that has been covered with parchment. Roast for about 20 minutes. If you want a bit more char on the tomatoes, you can place them under your broiler for a few minutes–watching them carefully so not to burn them to a crisp.
- Step 4 Prepare the eggplant. Toss it in a little olive oil. Spread the eggplant cubes on a baking sheet that has been covered with parchment and roast for about 20 minutes at about 450 degrees F. After 20 minutes, turn the eggplant over and roast for another 10 minutes until you have some caramelizing on the edges of the eggplant chunks.
- Step 5 Spread the hummus over a large flat plate being sure to leave some attractive swirling motions in the hummus. Spoon the roasted tomatoes (and their juices) and roasted eggplant chunks on top of the hummus. Sprinkle with a bit of urfa pepper if you have it and decorate with a few sprigs of oregano and/or thyme. Serve with pita wedges, pita crackers and sliced vegetables like carrot sticks and cucumber slices.
