Preheat oven to 425°F.

Halve the eggplant and places the skin-side down onto a baking sheet.

Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt on each eggplant half. Let the eggplant sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to allow the salt to extract the moisture from the eggplant halves. Use a paper towel to absorb any beads of water that have accumulated on the eggplant halves. Removing some of the moisture before baking will result in a better roasted eggplant and also remove some of the eggplant’s bitterness.

Brush olive oil on eggplant halves and sprinkle with dried oregano and red chili flakes. Prep the beet next, before placing the baking sheet into the oven.

Slice the top (stem side) of the beet, so the beet will sit flat on a piece of foil. The piece of foil should be large enough, so the corners can be folded up and over the beet to enclose the beet completely to create a foil packet.

Season the beet with salt, pepper, fresh thyme and olive oil. Close up the foil package and place it beside the cut eggplant halves on the baking sheet.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until the eggplant is golden brown, very soft and cooked through. The beet should also be tender when inserting a fork. Let both the beet and eggplant cool before handling. Use a fork to loosen the flesh of the eggplant from the skin and scrape the eggplant flesh into a food processor. Discard the eggplant skin.

Open the foil packet with the beet carefully as hot steam will release. Halve the beet and add to the food processor along with lemon juice, tahini, garlic, olive oil, garlic, garlic powder, fresh parsley, and ground pepper. Blend until smooth.