Since I can remember, I was a real hater of eggplant. My mum was trying hard to convince me to taste it, but all her manipulations were in vain…until one day. I was helping her prepare our (Serbian) traditional pantry supplies for the winter. One of the dishes we were preparing was Ajvar, and her secret ingredient is eggplant! While helping and working with the eggplant I was pleasantly surprised by the vegetable. It’s texture, smell and color fascinated me…it was perfect in all its glory. With no further ado, I have decided to make a dish, with eggplant, that I have been avoiding for so long, as the main ingredient.

Ingredients you need for my eggplant recipe:

1 bigger eggplant
1 garlic
50ml olive oil
30g butter
30g bacon
200g white chicken meat
1tsp salt
150g double cream
70g pistachios
parmesan and basil for seasoning

p.s. I made it for my sister and me, meaning two girls, so if you are cooking for more people, just calculate how many time you have to double everything.

If you want to make it taste as good as it looks like, follow the leads:

Cut the eggplant across the length, clean the inside of the halve, salt it and leave it for 20 min. During that time you can make the filling.

Filling:

Warm the olive oil and butter in a pot, then add chopped garlic and bacon. Fry it until you get the golden color of mixed ingredients (about 2-3 minutes).
Cut the meat in small pieces and add to the pot. Season to taste. Cook the meat until it becomes golden, then add double cream and leave it for 5 minutes on a medium heat to cook. When everything is ready, blend it and mix with the chopped pistachios.
Fill the eggplant halves, and put it in a heated oven (250ºC) for 15-20 minutes. You can sprinkle it with parmesan cheese if you wish.

Buone appetite!