Eggplant Pizza-tart

Eggplant was never a vegetable I enjoyed – until I met my husband. No matter how hard my poor mother tried to get me to like it, it never caught on.

My husband grew up eating home-cooked pizza every Friday night with his family. Often their delicious pizzas include this yummy ingredient. It’s a lovely tradition I hope to make my own when we have kids!

It’s surprising how easy this is, especially if you buy a dough or tart base. It’s also up to you how light or heavy you want to have your crust. This is no ordinary pizza/tart, you’re getting your meal’s worth of eggplant with this.

My suggestion would be to make/buy a light pizza crust or tart base, save yourself some effort.

Ingredients:

Your dough/tart base

3-4 cloves fresh garlic – cut into 4 or so pieces, thicker than slivers

3 Tbsp Creme freiche

4 Tbsp Parmesan or a Parmesan blend

1 Tbsp rosemary and/or an Italian blend of spices

1 eggplant, cleaned and cut into 1/2 inch pieces, skin left on

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

Preheat your oven to 375.

1. After cleaning and cutting your eggplant, place your slices into a colander in your sink. Sprinkle each piece with salt and let it sit. The point is to remove some of the vegetable’s water. You can also do this by placing your eggplant slices on paper towels and sprinkling with salt. Choose your preferred method. Let them sit for 15-20 min, allow them to expel some of their water. When you see droplets of water on the eggplant, squeeze a paper towel on top and soak up the liquid.

2. Mix together your Creme freiche and 3 tbsp Parmesan in a bowl.

3. Flour your pan. Take your dough and spread it in a pizza or baking pan. Sprinkle your rosemary or Italian seasoning on the base of the dough.

4. Spread your cheese mixture on the dough, add your garlic pieces on top. Distribute evenly.

5. Now place your eggplant pieces cascading one on top of the other.

6. Once all are on, drizzle with olive oil, you don’t want them to be too wet, but since you’re not precooking your eggplant, you want to give it some moisture so it doesn’t dry up too much. Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper and salt and a bit of Parmesan.

7. I’d say 15-20 minutes should do it for cooking time. But, I’d suggest using your dough directions to determine your temperature and time. The eggplant doesn’t need much more than 15 minutes. You can always leave it in for a few minutes longer, just be sure you use a timer and check.

8. I chop up some tomatoes and basil and sprinkle them on top, it makes it even more delicious!