If you’ve ever spotted those cute mini fairytale eggplants—which have the best name, by the way—and didn’t know what to do with them, you’re going to love this recipe.

Fairytale eggplant is one of those vegetables you wish you had a good dish to show them off. This is that dish!

Pan-cooked baby eggplants with a creamy pistachio cream and a red onion mint gremolata is just a winning combination. Plus, it just looks so pretty on the plate and is sure to impress any guest or loved one who you make this for!

Scroll down for the video and recipe ↓

   

A Beautiful Vegan Appetizer

This dish makes the perfect vegan appetizer that your guests are going to adore, and we bet it’s something different they’ve never seen before. It’s fatty, creamy, and so satisfying. The size of the eggplants is also really convenient; people can just take a few or use their hands to dip the eggplant into the pistachio cream (although maybe wait for COVID-19 to pass us by to suggest doing this!).

The eggplants are topped with an apple mint gremolata. Gremolata is an Italian sauce made with garlic, lemon zest, and parsley usually served with meat or fish. We put a spin on it and make ours with apple mint (you can use regular mint if you don’t find any), red onion, and white wine vinegar. It lends the perfect amount of acidity and freshness to this creamy dish.

Lastly, we garnished the dish with edible flowers that we found at the farmer’s market to add a nice pop of color, but feel free to omit them or use another garnish (fresh herbs would work great here, too!)

Check out the quick recipe video here:

 

 

Fairytale Eggplant with Pistachio Cream & Apple Mint Gremolata

Serves 2-4 as an appetizer

Eggplant 

15 | 45g fairytale eggplants, halved

2 tbsp | 10g sea salt, plus more to taste

3 tbsp | 30ml extra-virgin olive oil

freshly-ground black pepper, to taste

1. Place halved eggplants in a medium bowl and add salt. Use your hands to mix well and set aside for 20-40 minutes while you prepare the rest of your dish.

2. Rinse eggplants and gently dry them out with a tea towel or paper towel.

3. Heat a medium-large pan on high heat. Toss eggplants in olive oil, salt, and pepper. Place them in the pan, cut-side down, and cook for 5 minutes or until golden on the bottom. Flip and cook for another 3 minutes on the other side. Remove from heat and set aside.

 

Pistachio Cream

1 cup | 133g raw pistachios, whole

1 1/2 cups | 300ml water, for cooking

Sea salt, to taste

4 tbsp | 40ml extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup | 100ml water

1. Add pistachios and water to a small pot and cook for 15 minutes on low flame.

2. Drain and rinse pistachios. Add them to a high-speed blender along with olive oil, salt, and water and blend on high until smooth and creamy. If too thick, at water 1 tbsp at a time. Set aside.

   

Apple mint gremolata

15 leaves | 14g apple mint (or sub regular mint)

1/4 cup | 25g red onion, diced small

3 tbsp | 30ml white wine vinegar

sea salt, to taste

5 tbsp | 50ml extra-virgin olive oil

1 clove | 2g garlic

1. Add all ingredients to a small bowl and mix to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

   

PLATING

Pistachio cream

fairytale eggplant

apple mint gremolata

1/4 cup toasted pistachios

edible flowers (optional)

1. Using a spoon, place 2 tbsp of pistachio cream in the center of your serving dish and use the back of the spoon to spread it out into an even circle, leaving abuot 1.5” of space between the edge of the plate and the cream.

2. Place eggplants on top of the cream, arranging them in a circle around the edge, forming a ring. You can also have fun here and overlap some on top of each other.

3. Spoon gremolata over the eggplant, lettng the bits of onion fall in between them. Finish with a sprinkle of pistachios and flowers (if using) around the ring.

  

Don’t forget to tag us on Instagram @eatogether.co and show us your creations!

 

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