Robert Maklowicz cooked it in his recent episode from Dalmatia, I loved how it looked, I had to try. Anything with aubergines excites me since we live in Italia, I might plant some next year!

I’ve only made one of these, as the rest of the family were looking forward to their ragu.

I peeled one, not very big aubergine, leaving the green top, essential for it to keep the shape. I then cut it from the bottom upwards to make it look like a thick mop and plonked it into the pot of salted, boiling water for about 10 minutes. Left to drain and cool. In the meantime I’ve made a quick and delicious tzatziki; grated some cucumber, crushed a garlic clove and mashed it with some salt, finely chopped some mint from the garden and once the cucumbers let out all the water I removed it and combined all ingredients together, adding a touch more salt and olive oil.

Cooled melanzane were generously dipped in egg.

Then onto the breadcrumbs, which had also some sweet, smoked paprika in it, quite a lot, actually, not intentionally though! 🙂

And then into the hot oil for a few minutes, until crunchy and golden brown.

I found the whole thing absolutely delicious with a glass of red. Can’t wait to share with fellow melanzane lovers.