Tuesday, June 8, 2010

greek-ish pizza

I've been hankering for some more eggplant since the batch I did on the grill a couple weeks ago. I found a description in a cooking magazine for a "quickest dinner ever" idea that amounted to eggplant slices, olives and goat cheese on a pre-cooked pizza crust. I'm not a fan of pre-cooked crusts...they always come out rubbery and cardboard-tasting, but the idea of the pizza sounded awesome so I figured I'd try it.

I used a really gorgeous eggplant I got at the farmer's market on Sunday. It was perfect...deep purple, and so shiny I could see my reflection in it when I picked it up. The blurb that I originally read didn't mention anything about salting the eggplant and letting it drain, but I've learned that lesson the hard way, so I did it anyway. I only let it sit about 20 minutes, but it was enough. I pressed out my pizza crust onto two oiled pans and brushed them with olive oil. I rinsed and dried the eggplant, cut the slices up and distributed them onto the crusts along with some kalamata olives and quartered cherry tomatoes. I cut up a small log of goat cheese into chunks and spread them over the top of the pizzas, then topped them both with some judicious sprinkles of dried oregano. They went into a 450 degree oven for about 18 minutes, and this was the result:



It was SO. GOOD. Seriously. I'd happily eat this 3 times a week. Next time I'll cut the eggplant a little thinner, but otherwise I wouldn't change a thing. My husband, however, commented that while it tasted nice it "lacked a certain je ne sais...MEAT!" I wonder if a little seasoned ground lamb cooked up and sprinkled on top would go well with the Greek vibe and fill the meat void for him. Hmmm.

3 comments:

  1. "lacked a certain je ne sais...MEAT!" lol. + lamb would be outstanding. and tzatziki w/your homemade yogurt?

    http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2010/06/07/tzatziki-the-best-thing-to-happen-to-low-fat-yogurt-since-smoothies/

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  2. This was awesome! I used feta instead of goat cheese. I still have 1/2 an eggplant, the pizza so nice I made it twice?

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  3. Eggplant is good with pasta, too...saute it up with some garlic and olive oil until tender, and toss with some spaghetti, top with some parmesan...or if you've got some marinara available, you could make eggplant parmesan! Yum.

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