Eggplant Pizzas

It’s now the season of the tomato!  I can eat them now!  They’re not cardboard!  And this year, I will be canning tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, and other things, since I now have a water bath canner going.  More on that later when I have a batch of something ready to open.  (I’ve started with pickles.  Later.)

Anyhow, I went to the Litchfield Farmers’ Market yesterday, and this is what I got:

About the only patch of lawn here that isn't brown...

Anyhow, eggplant pizzas — Dad used to make these, using the regular large deep purple (smoke on the water…  let’s see how many people here catch the reference…) eggplants.  I like the little guys better, no peeling necessary, and unlike with some recipes with the large ones, you don’t have to soak them in salt water to draw out any bitterness.  For this recipe, I used the colorful one to the left. You do, as with all eggplants, need to give them an acid environment so they don’t brown up too fast.

This is a small recipe, size up accordingly.

2 large farmer’s market/farmstand/home-grown tomatoes, no particular variety
Herbs to taste, preferably fresh:  garlic, salt, ground pepper, oregano, basil, tarragon, red pepper flakes
1/4 white or yellow onion, julienned into small pieces.
About a half-cup of water

Remove tomato stem, and core.  Remove skins (drop in high-simmer level water to immerse for about 1 minute, then peel with your fingers).

I don’t mind seeds and I like my tomato chunky. If you prefer, you can remove seeds, and puree the tomato.  I don’t do either.

Toss all the above ingredients into a sauce pan, roughly chop up the tomatoes (if not pureed) and mix around a bit.  Cook for a while, until onions are soft, and the tomatoes are likewise.  (Some of the fresh herbs, like oregano, work best if added in the last minutes.)  Reduce the tomato sauce to an acceptable tomato sauce thickness (you may need a bit more water, depending on your tomatoes and onions.  Or not.)

For the Eggplant:

1 small but round eggplant, heirloom variety
1/3-1/4 lemon
About 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and ground pepper to taste

Slice into 1/3 -1/2 inch sections (closer to 1/3). Put in baking dish.

Squeeze lemon juice on both cut sides.  (No need to peel these.)  Add the olive oil and make sure it is under the eggplant slices, along with any extra lemon juice.

Bake, covered, for about 10 minutes in an oven preheated to 350 degrees F.

For the Pizzas:

Eggplant preparation
Tomato sauce preparation
Good quality mozzarella cheese

Pull the eggplant dish out of the oven, layer on a small bit of tomato sauce, top with mozzarella, and then top that with a bit more of the tomato sauce.

Return to oven for 5-10 minutes.  If you want your mozzarella browned, leave the lid off, and go the ten minutes.  I chose to keep the lid on and go for ten minutes.  I’ll play around further later.

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