Eggplant Cream

Eggplant cream with Piment d'Espelette from Languedoc

Rue Traversette's eggplant cream is a caviard d'aubergine made from roasted eggplant, black olives, and garlic, seasoned with a hint of Piment d'Espelette. A vegetarian spread with a smoky depth, as crafted by Stéphane in the south of France—Mediterranean and with a delicate spice.

Eggplant cream by Rue Traversette is a vegetable spread made of 76 percent roasted eggplant, black olives, garlic, and olive oil, which Stéphane seasons with lemon, bell pepper, and a pinch of Piment d'Espelette. The eggplant provides a creamy depth, the olive adds salt, and the Espelette chili offers a mild, fruity warmth. In France, such a spread is called caviard d'aubergine, and the name is fitting. Unlike many ready-made spreads, it remains chunky enough that you can still identify the eggplant.

Roasted eggplant with a mild heat

On the spoon, the eggplant cream is dark and creamy; it smells of roasted eggplant, garlic, and smoky depth. The color is a deep brown, the texture soft with a few coarser pieces.

First, you taste the creamy eggplant, rounded and mild, followed by garlic and black olive, before the Piment d'Espelette leaves a gentle warmth at the end that never stings. Creamy, savory, smoky, with a splash of lemon that keeps everything fresh. While mass-produced pastes often taste only of garlic and oil, here the eggplant remains the star—smoky and well-rounded.

On flatbread and in a mezze platter

As a vegetarian spread, the eggplant cream joins our vegetable spreads and creams and belongs on warm flatbread with sesame, on crackers, or toasted bread.

In a mezze spread, the eggplant cream sits comfortably between hummus, olives, and flatbread; it enjoys the company. Those who know baba ghanoush will find a French cousin here, without tahini, but with olives and Espelette instead. It makes for a dollop of depth alongside grilled lamb or poultry, and a spoonful stirred into warm pasta turns it into a quick, smoky sauce.

Alongside the red bell pepper cream, it serves as the dark, savory counterpart. If you enjoy it on its own, add a splash of olive oil and a few sesame seeds, dip in some warm flatbread, and that is all you need. It also works excellently on a bagel with cream cheese or under a fried egg on the weekend.

Caviar d'aubergine from Stéphane's kettle

The eggplant cream is cooked at Rue Traversette in Saint-André-de-Sangonis, where Stéphane Strobl has been roasting and preserving vegetables since 2005.

The eggplants are roasted until the flesh is soft and smoky before they ever touch the kettle. Caviar d'aubergine is a classic in the south of France, usually simple with garlic and olive oil. Stéphane adds black olives and a trace of Piment d'Espelette, the mild chili from the Basque country, and suddenly the classic takes on its own warmer note. That has been his signature for a good 20 years.

We have been carrying Stéphane's spreads for over 15 years, back when production was still taking place in a tiny garage. Today, there is a cannery built in 2015 where a small team continues to cook in kettles, with the same attention to detail. The team processes the eggplants, olives, and garlic fresh, batch by batch, not on an assembly line.

On the mezze platter among the others

At room temperature, the eggplant cream unfolds its smoky aroma, so take the jar out of the fridge in good time. Once opened, keep it refrigerated and use it within a few days; any leftovers disappear nicely into a vegetable pan or under roasted vegetables. On a mezze platter, it sits well among the other spreads from Rue Traversette, right next to the bell pepper and garlic. It pairs just as well with a glass of rosé from the south.