Marinated Eggplant Pizza
Makes 8 pizzas
Crowd Pleasers
Brunch
Vegetarian
Serves – a small, hungry crowd (10 to 12)
For a great pizza base I use Jamie Oliver pizza dough recipe (click link).
Ingredients
Marinated Eggplant Ingredients
- 3 large eggplants
- 3 large cloves fresh garlic, peeled & finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon ground paprika, smoky
- salt & pepper, to taste
- ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
Pizza base sauce ingredients
- 2 x 290g jars store bought tomato pesto
- 1 cup passata (store bought pureed tomato)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
Other pizza topping ingredients
- 750g grated mozzarella cheese
- 350g Halloumi cheese, sliced (or buffalo mozzarella)
Garnish ...
- fresh basil leaves from one bunch basil
Cooking Steps
1
Make your pizza bases according your own recipe (or click my link above)
*Alternatively, for a quick solution buy already store bought pizza bases.
2
Marinated Eggplant Method
Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F. Using a sharp knife, thinly slice eggplants. Place sliced eggplant in a large bowl or dish. Combine olive oil, paprika, salt & pepper, to taste, in a small bowl. Next pour over eggplant and toss until all the slices are covered in the oil/paprika mix.
3
Evenly lay eggplant slices on trays, drizzle any uncovered slices with a little extra olive oil. Place trays in preheated oven and cook for about 15 minutes (keep an eye on them). When eggplant is becoming opaque and beginning to slightly crisp on the edges, remove and add to an airtight container and store in the fridge overnight (or a bowl if using straight away for your pizzas) .
Repeat this process, placing eggplants on trays until all the eggplants are cooked (this takes about 2 batches).
4
When all the eggplant is cooked, very gently toss through the fresh garlic (don’t mash the soft eggplant). Taste one slice to check for adequate seasoning (salt & pepper).
Important: Don’t discard the any of the oil the eggplant has been cooking in; make sure it is all added to the final marinated eggplant.
5
Pizza Sauce Method -
- To make the sauce, thoroughly combine all of the 'pizza sauce' ingredients in a medium bowl. Evenly spread over your pizza dough base.
6
To make pizzas -
Top pizza with sauce, then grated cheese, halloumi cheese, eggplant & extra drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
Cook pizzas in a very hot oven, keep & eye on them.
Cook for pizzas for about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove pizzas and allow to rest for about 5 minutes before cutting.
To Serve - garnish with roughly torn fresh basil leaves (see picture above)
... enjoy!
** Tip -Store any leftover pasta sauce in the fridge & toss through pasta for a quick weeknight meal.
Store any leftover eggplant in a container in the fridge – it’s great served on toast with crumbled feta.