Burnt eggplant with tahini & pomegranate (via Ottolenghi)

This is an Ottolenghi recipe I just can't get enough of.  I made it for a Lebanese dinner last week and couldn't just taste one teaspoon. Finally, I asked the Maharishi to take it away until our friends arrived.  Ottolenghi suggests using it as a condiment or as a summer salad*, but I put it out with pita bread and Lebanese cucumbers as an appetizer. (I have modified it a little, but the original recipe is on page 122 of Plenty):

1 large eggplant or 3 Japanese eggplant
1/4 cup tahini
a few tablespoons water
2 tsp pomegranate molasses (available at Persian or Armenian markets; at a pinch, use maple syrup)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 garlic clove, crushed
3 tbsp parsley, chopped
handful of pomegranate seeds
salt & pepper
olive oil to finish
 *for a salad, add halved cherry tomatoes and chunky chopped baby cucumber

• Put eggplant on a foil-covered cookie sheet and place under a hot grill so that the skin begins to burn. Turn the eggplant till it burns evenly. They suggest an hour. I think 30 minutes will suffice.
• Scrape the soft flesh from the eggplant and mush with a fork in a bowl.
• Add the tahini, water, pomegranate molasses, lemon juice, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper. Mix well.
• Taste. Adjust seasoning. Add more garlic, lemon, salt, molasses as and if needed.
• To serve, spread into a shallow dish, scatter with pomegranate seeds and drizzle with the olive oil.