EGGPLANT TOPPER
Sweet and smoky grilled veggie makes a tasty, meat-free pizza with a Moroccan touch
Sweet and smoky grilled veggie makes a tasty, meat-free pizza with a Moroccan touch.
Who doesn’t love pizza? I know I do, but I don’t eat it very often these days, since carbs and keeping diabetes at bay do not make a good combination. But every once in a while, you have to partake, because life is too short to not enjoy the occasional food indulgence. Today’s recipe for grilled eggplant pizza is a perfect blend of some of my favorite f lavors and textures. And in an effort to assuage my pizza-eating guilt, I made a few choices to keep it from going over the top. To begin, it’s meatless! I also didn’t go too crazy with the cheese, and I avoided white f lour, instead opting for store-bought whole-wheat pizza dough (although, if you’re feeling ambitious, you could always make your dough).
Pizza holds a special place in my heart. I remember surprise pizza nights on some Saturday evenings with Dad making his pizza sauce from scratch, and sometimes the dough, as well.
Often, though, he’d have pizza dough in the freezer ready to shape and bake for those “I’m in the mood for pizza” kind of evenings. He used to make what he called “pepperoni pizza rolls,” which were among our favorite Dad creations. Making his sauce from scratch, he’d slather it on a big slab of dough, pile on the sliced pepperoni and shredded mozzarella, then tightly roll it — jelly roll-style — and bake it. Our little hearts could scarcely contain our excitement waiting for it to come out of the oven, then waiting for it to cool down for what felt like an eternity before Dad would slice it for us, revealing the perfect pinwheel of pizza goodness.
Those pizza nights were special, in part because of the care Dad took in creating the various elements and because it had us all crowding around the center island, slices of pizza or pinwheel pizza in hand, eating with joyful abandon.
Making homemade pizza sauce
To help control added sugar, I’ve spent several years scaling down the number of jarred sauces and condiments I buy. Nothing against convenience, but we often pay for that convenience in sugar and high volumes of sodium.
Since my brush with Type 2 diabetes, I’ve become an avid label reader. Do you know what I found when it comes to canned tomatoes? Many food manufacturers add sugar (coincidentally, the cheaper the product, the more added sugar). From whole peeled tomatoes to diced to sauce and purees: sugar is almost always the second or third ingredient. And we wonder why we are a nation of sugar addicts?
Now, I realize that adding a little sugar to tomatoes helps balance tomatoes’ acidity, especially if they aren’t quite ripe. Still, I’d prefer to control the amount of added sugar (if any) when I cook.
I’m calling out a particular brand here because I find the knowledge useful: Most of Hunt’s tomato sauces, diced and whole tomato products do not have sugar listed in the ingredients. Yay, Hunt’s! Regardless of whether you buy Hunt’s or another brand, be sure to read your labels for an informed decision even if you don’t have a sugar sensitivity.
So, why am I talking about canned tomatoes? Because to add a ton of robust f lavor to our pizza sauce today, we’re dumping a can of tomatoes onto a baking tray along with their juices, some red onions and garlic, then roasting the whole shebang until the tomatoes just start to caramelize around the edges of the pan. And oh! The smell that fills the kitchen while this magic is happening is intoxicating.
When the roasted veggies have cooled slightly, I blend them with tomato sauce and lots of fresh herbs to make about a pint’s worth of sauce. For the pizza, I use a mere 2⁄
3 cup of sauce and add the Moroccan condiment harissa to it for an added kick. You can make this sauce as hot as you want. Easy peasy: Just add a couple of teaspoons to taste. Pair it with the sweet eggplant, take one bite and you’ll understand why eggplant and harissa show up so much in Moroccan cuisine!
Don’t have harissa? No problem. Use whatever hot sauce or chili paste you have on hand to give the pizza a nice little kick.
Keep the rest of the sauce, sans harissa, in the fridge to use on meatballs or pasta or atop scrambled eggs. Delish!
While the pizza sauce is roasting, I turn my attention to the dough and toppings.
Store-bought pizza dough saves time
I am not crazy about store-bought already-baked crusts, but I am not shy about using store-bought pizza dough, especially when it’s tasty. Some pizzerias will even sell you pizza dough, while several grocery stores have house brand dough in their deli sections. My favorite pre-made pizza dough is from Trader Joe’s, but feel free to use your favorite.
When using any refrigerated dough, the trick for success is giving it enough time to come up to room temperature fully. Take the dough out of the refrigerator as soon as you place the tomatoes into the oven. Lightly oil a bowl, remove the dough from its bag and form it into a tight ball, dump it in the oiled bowl and cover it with a warm, slightly damp kitchen towel. Place the bowl in a warm spot and let it hang out while you prep everything else.
Eggplant is the star ingredient
I know people who don’t like eggplant. I don’t trust people who don’t like eggplant — just kidding.
Seriously, I love eggplant. It can be a great stand-in for meat when cooked properly. It can also be super-creamy when roasted long and slow.
Eggplant is a versatile, nutrient-dense vegetable that’s high in fiber and antioxidants such as anthocyanin, the compound responsible for the purple skin. It’s thought to have anti-viral, anti-inf lammatory and anti-cancer properties, so for the biggest health benefit, don’t peel your eggplants. The high fiber content also makes it an excellent vegetable choice for those trying to control blood sugar and for people wanting to lose weight.
Because eggplant contains such a high degree of water, it’s good practice to salt it after slicing ( 1⁄4- inch-thick slices) then let it stand in a colander for 30 minutes to allow the salt to draw out some of the excess moisture. Salting is especially helpful when extra moisture could detract from the finished dish.
Some people find eggplant a little bitter (especially noticeable in quick-cooking methods). Salting will help to cancel out that bitterness. Being an eggplant lover, if I’m in a hurry, I skip the salting because, honestly, I don’t taste the bitterness. If you are on the fence about eggplant, I suggest you try salting it first to see if you like it better.
After the eggplant has hung out and has sweated nicely from the salt, give each slice a quick rinse under cold running water, blot well with paper towels to dry, then brush olive oil on both sides. Your grill should already be heating up (or use a grill pan on the stove). Once the grill is nice and hot (450 degrees, at least), toss these babies on and watch ’em! They’ll only take about five minutes per side to cook and get gorgeous grill marks on them.
I added fresh basil before slicing the pizza to serve, which brought a nice crisp, green f lavor to the party. Parsley, mint or cilantro will also work.
I have to make a little confession here: This pizza that I photographed for this post was supposed to be entirely grilled. That’s how I initially prepared it while testing and developing this recipe. However, after grilling the eggplant on my gas grill, I went back into the house, quickly rolled out the dough and slathered one side with olive oil, went back out to the grill and wouldn’t you know it? The temp had dropped down to below 400 degrees. What? I thought I had accidentally turned a knob down. Nope. I’d run out of propane!
Why am I sharing this with you? As a reminder for you, when it comes to cooking: You have to feel comfortable changing plans midway (and keep an extra canister of propane on hand!). I simply pivoted by heating my well-used pizza stone in the oven that I cranked up to 500 degrees; I then pulled out the pizza peel, tossed some cornmeal onto it, and built my pizza on the peel, olive-oil side of the crust facing up.
The following recipe is for the grilled version, especially good these days when the weather in San Diego is still a bit too warm for oven use. I like to cook one side of the dough on oiled grates just until there are grill marks (lid closed while it bakes, about 4 to 5 minutes), then pull out the crust, flip it so the grill marks are up, build the pizza, re-oil the grates and toss the pizza on until the cheese melts and the bottom is grill-marked.
However, making it in the oven is just as tasty! If you don’t have a pizza stone, take a rimmed baking sheet, place it upside down on a center rack, and heat up with the oven. Be sure to use cornmeal on the peel so that the raw pizza will slide easily onto the pan or stone.
OK, are you ready for some pizza? Let’s do this.