Roasted Eggplant Brushetta Pizza

Is it just me or do other people crave big gooey slices of pizza? I had one of those cravings last week. After determining that I didn't have any yeast in the house I made an emergency phone call to JR.

Me: Hi, stop by the store and pick up yeast.
JR: Why?
Me: Pizza night
JR: You want me to pick up pizza?
Me: No, I want to you pick up yeast so I can make pizza
JR: Too late.
Me: Huh?
JR: I've already driven by the store.

Cue, the next day. Yeast was procured by JR.
I had ingredients. I had the will. I turned on the oven.


Roasted Eggplant Brushetta Pizza
1 medium eggplant, drained and chopped
3 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons fresh basil or 1 tablespoon dried, chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
Pizza dough
mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
Pesto sauce


Here's the instruction portion of our show.

Slice the eggplant into about 1/2 inch slices.

Salt both sides.

Layer into a colander. Place over a bowl or something to catch the drippings. Otherwise you'll have eggplant piddle all over your counter top. There is very little worse than eggplant piddle.

After about 30 minutes rinse the salt off.
Chop into pieces. Try to get these about the same size.
Put a little olive oil on the pan.

Place under the broiler. Not too close. Say, about 6 to 8 inches away.
Cook for 10 minutes. Give them a flip.
Cook for another 10 minutes.

Mix up tomatoes, garlic and basil. Coat with a little olive oil.
Add to the pan with the eggplant.
Cook for another 10 to 15 minutes.
You want to caramelize the sugars in the tomatoes.
I just happened to have a container of brushetta topping.
So I skipped the tomato mixture in favor of using this.

It comes out as a sloppy yummy mess.
Put it off to the side.

While you are cooking your eggplant make the dough.
I didn't have any corn meal handy so I used corn bread mix.
Tasty!

I had some pre-made pesto that I spread over the top. You could leave this out but really why would you want to? If you have it use it. That's my motto. Or, it would be if my real motto wasn't play well with others.

Use up the last of your mozzarella cheese.
Now, you could stop here but let's take it right over the top.

Evenly distribute the eggplant mixture over the top.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is all melty.

Oh Yeah!

Sorry, this is not diet food. The best you could say is that it is a test of your power of moderation. Can you limit yourself to just one piece? Me = fail. I had two. There were exactly 3 pieces left for lunch the next day. After a little wrangling JR got 2 and I got 1. Didn't seem fair to me but his whining; "I'm a foot taller and weigh 60 pounds more than you so I should get more", was grating on my nerves.

The eggplant topping can be used with pasta, eggs, and baked potato just to name a few. It is worth making just on it's own.

Go! Make pizza! Be happy! Be melty gooey cheese happy!

Love,
M