Pizza Melanzane

This was the answer Traci came up with one Saturday night to that eternal question, "What do you want to do with that eggplant?" We were planning on making pizza for dinner, had the eggplant, and, well, the rest is history.

Many of the ingredients have no amounts listed because they are a matter of taste. As a general rule, Californians put too much cheese and toppings on their pizzas, I assume because their sauce has no flavor. Use high-quality ingredients, and they'll all taste good. For example, this pizza became twice as good as soon as we started using organic eggplant that actually tastes like eggplant.

This recipe makes two medium-sized pizzas that are so good, you should plan on one per person. If you end up with left-overs, you can e-mail them to me.

Ingredients

• 1 medium-sized eggplant
• Spinach, cleaned (OK, so we buy the packaged stuff)
• Mozzarella cheese, grated
• Red onion, sliced
• Double batch tomato sauce
• One batch pizza dough

Directions

Slice the eggplant into relatively thin slices (but not too thin). Salt the slices and put into a colander on a plate and allow the bitter juices to drain for one hour. Pat the slices dry. Dust the slices with flour and fry in olive oil until just brown. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

Take half of the batch of dough and roll out into a circle. Place on a pizza peel dusted with corn meal to assemble. Place ingredients on the pizza dough in this order:

1. Tomato sauce
2. Eggplant slices
3. Spinach
4. Grated mozzarella
5. Sliced red onion
Place on a preheated pizza stone, dusted with corn meal, on the bottom rack of a 450º F oven and bake for 10-20 minutes, or until the bottom is just turning brown and the cheese is melted. Allow to cool a little before cutting and serving.

Take the other half of the dough and make another pizza!

Now, take the left-over eggplant slices and have them for dessert!

All content copyright (c) 1999 Thomas A. Riso. All Rights Reserved.