Hi Everyone,

This has been a very frigid week here in the Northeast and when it’s cold outside I get the urge to stay in and what else, cook. Cooking and creating in the kitchen brings me great joy.

This past week I have been making a variety of entrees for dinner and some were a little outside of my normal rotation. I posted the dishes to my personal Facebook page and received quite a few requests for recipes so I decided to post them on the blog to share with all of you. I hope the recipes bring you some inspiration to try something new.

The first recipe is for “Roasted Eggplant Pizza”. I purchased a few eggplants last week and made stuffed eggplant (previous post) and had one medium sized eggplant left in the refrigerator that I had no purpose for. I already made eggplant stacks and stuffed eggplant and then the idea popped into my head for the eggplant pizza.

I really didn’t have a recipe but I did have a pizza crust in the freezer, the eggplant, and an idea of what I wanted it to taste like so that is all I needed. It turned out very well and we enjoyed it immensely. I wrote down what I did and here it is. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did…..

The next recipe for Ham, Cheese, Potato, and Kale Quiche will follow soon. Stay well.

Roasted Eggplant Pizza

Ingredients:

1 medium eggplant (washed and sliced thin – approx. 1/8-inch slice (deli slicer works great for this)

1 premade pizza crust  

3 tbsp. olive oil

2 garlic cloves, diced fine OR 1 tsp of jarred minced garlic

1 tsp. dried oregano (optional)

1 tsp dried basil (optional)

½ tsp salt

14 oz of pizza sauce (jarred or homemade)

6 oz of mozzarella cheese (grated or sliced)

6 tbsp of ricotta cheese

½ cup of grated cheese (I use Locatelli cheese)

½ tsp. hot chili flakes (optional)

Directions:

Cooks Note: I used a premade pizza crust or you could use store bought dough or make homemade dough- recipe below)

Line a large baking sheet with parchment or aluminum foil.

Cut the eggplant in 1/8 inch round slices and arrange in 1 layer on the baking sheet

In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, minced garlic, dried oregano & basil

Lightly brush this mixture on both sides of the eggplant rounds and season lightly with salt.

Roast the eggplant in a 350-degree oven for 20-25 minutes until tender and the eggplants start to turn brown. If you want the eggplant a little crispier follow this step with 2 minutes under the broiler.

Assemble the Pizza

Cover the pizza crust with pizza sauce, sprinkle lightly with grated cheese. Arrange the eggplant slices on the pizza and then add the mozzarella cheese and a few dollops of ricotta cheese. Follow with another sprinkle of grated cheese and chili flakes

Bake in the oven as per directions for the crust or dough you are using

For example- 500-degree oven 8 minutes for a premade crust *****425-degree oven for 12- 16 minutes for homemade dough.

Below is the recipe for homemade dough if you are not using a prebaked crust…

Pizza Dough for a 12-inch pie

Ingredients:

1 ¾ to 2 ¼ cups of all-purpose flour

1 packet of Fleischmann Pizza Crust Yeast

1 ½ tsp sugar

¾ tsp salt

2/3 cup warm water (120- 130 degrees)

3 tbsp of oil (I use olive oil)

Preheat oven to 425

Directions:

Combine 1 cup flour, undissolved yeast, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add water and oil. Mix until well blended about 1 minute.

Add gradually enough remaining flour until a soft dough ball is formed (Dough will be slightly sticky).

Knead on a floured surface adding additional flour if needed, until smooth and elastic; about 4 minutes. With floured hands. Pat dough out to fill the greased pizza pan, OR roll dough to a 12-inch circle and transfer to greased pizza pan

Top as desired and bake on the bottom oven rack for 12-15 minutes until cheese is bubbly and crust is browned.

**************************

Until my next post, make every day a celebration!

Stay well,

Diane

Please ask your family and friends to “follow”, “like” and “share” DishingwithDiane.com 

Once you become a member, you’ll never miss a post…

Also, continue to send me your comments, I love hearing from you.