Mediterranean Eggplant Stack

Grilled eggplant slices, with layers of garbanzo puree, flavored with roasted garlic, lemon juice and ras el hanout; blanched baby spinach, sautéed with thin slices of lightly browned garlic; onions and roasted red peppers stewed with smoked paprika; chopped artichokes with roasted garlic, lemon zest, and thick cashew cream.

Some inventions look and taste better in the mind than they do on the plate. I didn't know until I dug into it, whether the different flavors and textures would go well together or not. That's the way it is with art--you imagine, you plan, you execute, and then you find out if it soared or crashed. Almost always it falls at least slightly short of what you imagined. This one was damn near perfect. The hilarious part is that this is a warm, sunny weather dish--made last night, with snow on the ground and a painful -15 degrees outside!