Eggplant season is here again and we are eating it every chance we get! With this pizza recipe the time varies widely depending on how you choose to make your pizza crust. You can buy pizza crust from the store to make the process quicker and easier, or you can make pizza from scratch. If you make it from scratch, make sure to check your recipe to get a sense of how much time that will take. Another option one of our friends does is to make dough from scratch and freeze it for later.
Makes: 1 large pizza
Time: 1 hr + additional time if making pizza dough from scratch
Pizza Crust (Anne uses the Joy of Cooking recipe, but any recipe or store bought would do just fine), for gluten-free pizza crust we recommend Simple Mills Brand
1 medium eggplant
1 medium zucchini
1 batch of sun-dried tomato pesto, on the thicker side
3 garlic cloves, minced
(optional) 1/2 bunch of kale, chiffonaded
If you are making the pizza dough from scratch, check your recipe to see how long you need for dough preparation. Prepare your crust for toppings, remembering to take into account any resting or cooling time it might need. Now we will discuss how to prepare the toppings.
Turn on your broiler. Peel the eggplant and cut it into long slabs about 1/2 inch thick. Brush both sides with olive oil and place on a broiler pan. Broil about 7 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. When broiling, it’s very easy to burn the eggplant, so make sure to set a timer each time and listen to the timer. When the eggplant is soft and browned on both sides, remove it from the oven and set aside. The browning may be splotchy, but that is ok.
Pre-heat the oven according to your pizza dough instructions. If you need to do any more work on the crust before adding the toppings, now is a good time to do that.
Next, mince the garlic and then slice the zucchini into long thin strips. Heat up a pan with oil and sauté the zucchini until it is golden brown on one side, and lightly browned on the other side, about 15 minutes. Then add the garlic and cook an extra 3 minutes until the garlic is fragrant.
If you have a pizza peel and a pizza stone, you will build your pizza on the peel sprinkled with cornmeal or semolina flour and cook it on the stone. If you don’t, it is easy to cook this pizza on a cookie sheet. Or to use a cookie sheet, pizza stone combo.
If you are adding the optional kale, you can wilt it in a pan with a little oil while the pizza is in the oven.
Spread the pesto onto the pizza crust. Cut or tear your eggplant into long strips and cover the pesto with the eggplant. The combination of eggplant and pesto will make everything hold together nicely. Top with the zucchini and put in the oven. Bake about ten minutes and then optionally add the kale. Continue to bake until the crust is golden (about 5 more minutes, but can vary a lot depending on the crust). Remove from oven, let cool slightly. Slice, serve, and enjoy!
