Eggplant Pizza
I was craving pizza something horrible this weekend. So we were trying to think of a way to make pizza without all the carbs and calories that come with the typical pie. We first thought maybe some nice whole wheat or whole grain flour, but still way more than we wanted to consume for a dinner meal. Then my girlfriend mentioned how we used eggplant to supplement the pasta layers in lasagna and how great it turned out. So off to the store i went. I got the fattest roundest eggplant i could find.
So instead of the typical slice of pizza with high calorie fats and carbs in the crust, we have eggplant slices with the following nutritional info per slice
Nutrition Facts
Calories 10
(Kilojoules 42)
% DV**
Total Fat 0.1 g 0%
Sat. Fat 0.0 g 0%
Cholesterol 0 mg 0%
Sodium 1 mg 0%
Total Carbs. 2.4 g 1%
Dietary Fiber 1.4 g 6%
Sugars 1.0 g
Protein 0.4 g
Calcium 3.8 mg
Potassium 96.6 mg
Note: A dash indicates no data is available.
After you slice up the eggplant, if you have ever prepared eggplant before, you know this step is a must.
Lay out the slices on a cookie sheet, sprinkle salt across the top of each side of each slice. Let them sit for about 15-20 minutes. All of the bitter oils from within the eggplant are extracted. Wipe each side of the eggplant slices down with a paper towel, get all the oils and salt off.
Start a large frying pan with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Place the dehydrated eqqplant slices in the pan on medium heat for about 8-10min each side. We added crushed garlic cloves in the pan for a little more taste, came out great. You could use garlic salt if you dont mind the extra sodium.
After the eggplant is hardened a bit, place them on a cookie sheet and get your oven pre heated around 375 degrees. Build your pizza toppings on each slize just as you would regular pizza dough. We let them cook for about 8 minutes or so, just enough to melt everything together nicely.
I used nice thick cuts for the eggplant but you can go as thin as you want.
We tried a couple of different kinds, regular cheese, cheese and pepporoni, the works, hawaiian etc..
The best one in our opinion was the hawaiian. After i tasted how the pineapple slices countered any bitterness left over in the eggplant i started putting it on every slice.
Give it a try, if you have never had eggplant before, i recommend using pineapple or something sweet as a topping to counter the slight bitter taste of the eggplant.
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