Ingredients:
1/2 lb chicken livers, pureed
1 large Ichiban Eggplant, diced (about 2 1/2 cups)
1 cup diced okra
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalapenos, minced
2 tablespoon minced fresh Italian parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons Creole seasoning
1/2 teaspoon hot paprika
1 1/3 cups chicken stock (divided use)
2 cups cubed, cooked chicken breast and thigh meat
3 cups hot cooked white rice*

Directions:
In a 14-inch cast iron skillet, heat some oil. Add the liver and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liver is nearly caramelized and starting to stick slightly to the pan. Add 1/3 cup of chicken stock and all spices and cook until the stock evaporates. Add the vegetables and cook until they are soft and translucent.

Stir in the rice, herbs, remaining stock, cubed chicken. Stir until the liquid is absorbed then serve.

*I used basmati rice which gave the dish a slight biryani flare.

My thoughts:

This is more of an homage to dirty rice than the real thing. It has the “dirty” appearance of the Cajun original but I added tons of vegetables and cubed chicken to make it into a complete one skillet meal. I know pureeing liver and then caramelizing sounds odd (and perhaps a bit unappetizing) but it adds an amazing depth of flavor and a bit of nutritional punch. We had the world’s biggest eggplant so I threw that in too. Japanese eggplants get very soft when cooked and don’t have the thick skin and slight bitterness Italian eggplants do so they are great for this sort of dish. Hmm, now that I think of it, this dish is full of ingredients that people frequently have polarizing reactions too: liver, eggplant and okra. Luckily, I love them all and hopefully you will too, once you try the dish.