Say cheese, then tuck right in
Melissa Clark has a recipe for a pizza that lets really the mozzarella shine
hours (or up to 6 hours).
When ready to bake the pizzas, place racks in the top third and bottom third of the oven.
Put a pizza stone on top rack, and heat oven to 230ºc.
Prepare the toppings:
On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the aubergine generously with oil, salt and pepper.
Roast aubergine on the bottom rack until caramelised and tender, 40 to 45 minutes, tossing halfway through. Remove from the oven and raise the oven heat to 260ºc.
On a piece of parchment paper, stretch out one of the balls of dough to a 30cm round.
Spread 2 tablespoons tomato purée on top, leaving a 1cm border.
Scatter on ¼ of the sliced garlic, a large pinch of redpepper flakes and drizzle with oil to taste.
Arrange ¼ of the roasted aubergine on top.
Use a pizza peel or cookie sheet to slide the parchment onto the pizza stone.
Bake until crispy and golden on the top and bottom, 7 to 10 minutes. Use tongs to pull the pizza out of the oven and onto a wire rack to cool.
Immediately top with chunks of cheese, pulling it apart with your hands into bite-size pieces.
Top with basil, more oil to taste and flaky sea salt.
Repeat with the remaining dough and toppings.
When drinking wine with pizza, I resist the often precious efforts to pair wine specifically with the toppings.
In this case, the wines that classically go with pizza – fresh Italian reds with more acid than tannins – also go well with roasted eggplant.
If it pleases you to go a bit rogue, open a bottle of Champagne: it’s great with pizza.
Whites with a little substance to them might go very well. – The New York Times