Grilled steak and aubergine garlic goo

When we went on our first boat trip to Turkey a few years ago, we were delighted by a Turkish dish I believe is technically called Sarimsakli. The chefs made it nearly every day with a different vegetable inclusion – sometimes just watercress, sometimes julienned carrots, sometimes, cucumber, and my favorite, grilled aubergine (eggplant, brinjals depending on what English you speak). We would eat large quantities of it and soak up any that was left with old crusty bread. We kept asking the chef what is was but our ability to learn Turkish was limited. I can just about say thank you. So we called it garlic goo and that stuck pretty well. What was so weird is that *everybody* loved this – even picky eaters Greg and Mark.

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When I got back home I tried to whip up a batch and was shocked to see how much garlic you needed to get the same taste. We’re talking 4-5 cloves of garlic to a half cup of yogurt. Ouch, no vampires here I say!

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So for this I used frozen slices of pre-grilled aubergines. I used to sauté the aubergines myself but that makes you use a lot of olive oil, and when I found these perfect, no oil, grilled aubergines I figured that was a nice cheat indeed. Not so ironically there was a label on the pack saying “Delia’s Cheats”. Delia is one smart woman. I added this to full fat Greek style plain yogurt. I looked it up online and even though it’s full fat it’s not actually that bad for you. And I suppose the goodness of yogurt trumps the badness of dairy fat in this case.

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For a nice crispy thing to spread the goo on, I sliced up pitas, brushed on a light coating of olive oil and then sprinkled on Penzey’s oddly named “Barbecue 3000” spice blend. I broiled these in a super hot oven and found that they were a great substitute for French fries. Seriously.

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Not to be completely overshadowed by the goo, our protein tonight is steak. Marinated in olive oil and more of that Barbecue 3000. It was great on it’s own, but I tended to dip even the steak in the garlic goo and was not disappointed.

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And finally, we have a side salad of maiche with tomatoes and goat cheese. The dressing was the usual walnut oil Dijon with, you guessed it, a special guest star showing of the Barbecue 3000 to tie it all together.

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Before you get too excited I do have to admit that the serving, as shown was well over my usual dinner allowance at a hefty 18.5 points. For my friends on 22 points, I apologise, but that was a large steak and lots of crisps, so you know where to cut.

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Weightwatchers points: 18.5 points as follows: 7 for the steak, 3.5 for the olive oil, 3 for the pita, 2 for the yogurt, and 3 for salad dressing and goat cheese.