Happy Labor Day everyone! I hope you’re doing something non-work related today and enjoying friends and family.
The weather in Greenville shifted this past weekend and I realized that my mood is 10,000% controlled by the weather. When I left to go to the farmer’s market the other morning, it was 63 degrees out. I was unusually nice all day long.;) Less humidity and heat is welcomed. I keep saying that I’m going to meet a beautiful Canadian man who will whisk me away to Alberta and I never have to deal with these hot temperatures again. #goals
My parents have eggplants growing in their garden and you would not believe how picture perfect these vegetables are. They’re still-life quality if I were an artist.
I mulled over what to make out of it and thought hard about an eggplant parmesan, but after scouring pinterest for inspiration, I found a recipe from Food and Wine for a pizza. It had me at goat cheese, so I went that direction. I did a couple things different from Food and Wine’s recipe (which I’ll share below), but this was absolutely delicious. Super easy to make and full of flavor. A nice little nod to late summer vegetables as we transition to fall.
Mom and dad also had sweet red peppers growing in the garden so I added those to the pizza as well. Get creative. You can add anything that sounds good or leave off what doesn’t. That’s the beauty of rolling your sleeves up in the kitchen.
This is a great vegetarian pizza, but you could of course add some cooked, crumbled Italian sausage before baking or even some slices of Prosciutto after it’s done baking for a little kick of protein for the meat lovers at your table. Serve it alongside a simple salad and you’ve got a fantastic and easy weeknight meal that comes together in minutes or a lovely, rustic dinner to serve to friends on a weekend night.
Food and Wine’s Recipe: Eggplant, Pesto and Goat-Cheese Pizza
Now for my version! Enjoy!
Eggplant, Pesto and Goat Cheese Pizza
SERVES 4 PrintDownloadIngredients
- 1 package of ready made pizza dough
- 3 tablespoons of pesto
- 1 small eggplant
- 3 oz goat cheese
- 2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup of sweet red pepper, or peppadew peppers, sliced.
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400.
- Slice the eggplant into thin slices, about 1/4 inch. Season each side with a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
- Heat up a large skillet to medium heat. Add in a couple tablespoons of olive and let it get hot. Add in a few slices of eggplant. Cook for about 5 minutes until they get soft and start to brown. Flip and cook another 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate and heat up more olive oil and finish cooking the rest of the eggplant.
- Prepare the pizza dough by rolling it out on a sheet pan or pizza stone. When you get it to a desired thickness (I went for a thin and crispy crust for this pizza), add the pesto and spread it over the dough. Add the eggplant slices and sliced peppers. Crumble goat cheese over the pizza and then sprinkle grated parmesan over the pizza.
- Bake for about 15-20 minutes until the crust is crisp and slightly browned and the cheeses are melted.
- Slice and serve!
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