By Jessica
Veggie pizzas seem to be mostly one of three things 1) throw the kitchen sink at a pizza (including mushrooms, ICK) and call it done 2) spinach and artichoke or 3) margherita. Meanwhile, meat eaters get all sorts of fancy combinations and styles. Of course there are some places that are doing things with meat substitutes, like Yard House, but I wanted to make something at home with a whole vegetable and have it not just be a bunch of veg on a pizza.
Somehow I got it in my head that eggplant parmesan would translate well into a pizza and lo it was good. It could stand some tweaking, as I didn't let the eggplant sit with the salt near long enough or cut it near thin enough but for a first attempt, I think it definitely hit all the notes I wanted it to and sent me down the path with how to make it perfect next time.
For the crust, I used this one which I got via Sarah which she got via Hillary (I believe that is the right chain of people there). For the sauce, I just made a traditional marinara but added a bit of balsamic and a bit more tomato paste and allowed it to cook down longer to thicken. For the cheese, I only had fresh mozzerella but I think it would be even better with a mix of mozzerella and parm. As I mentioned, I salted the eggplant slices to remove the water but I think next time I will slice them thinner, salt them longer and layer them almost tart style, instead of spaced as you see above. One of the best things about the pizza is the bread crumb topping. At my local grocery store I have been able to find italian seasoned panko bread crumbs and I toasted those in a pan with some butter before sprinkling them over the finished pizza.
I definitely will be posting again once I've made the tweaks and changes and let you know the final results!
What is your favorite veggie pizza?
There's a pizza place near my boyfriend's mom's house that makes eggplant parm pizza which is TO DIE FOR and she orders it for me everytime we get pizza (i'm the only vegetarian in the "family") Anyway, I never thought about making it myself. Genius!
What about getting the breaded eggplant cutlets from Trader Joe's? Might take some of the work out of it, no?
Posted by: emiliym | May 07, 2012 at 04:17 PM
We dont have a TJs! So sad!
Sent from my iPhone
Posted by: Jessica | May 07, 2012 at 05:10 PM