Eggplant Pizza

O.M.G.!!! This is honestly the BEST pizza, meal, recipe ever! That is no exaggeration; my family is hooked on this dish. The eggplant "pizza crust" is slightly crispy from the breading but still retains the great eggplant texture. And, the pizza toppings on top are delicious and pair surprisingly well with eggplant!

I first tried this recipe about a month ago when I was home visiting my parents. My mom got the idea for this recipe from a lady at her farmer's market. I love eggplant, so I knew I was going to love her recipe before I even tried it. My picky husband was skeptical, but he gave it a try. The three of us could have eaten the entire eggplant in one sitting! We almost did, except we politely forced ourselves to stop and save some for the rest of the family.

When my mom was visiting us over the past week, we made Eggplant Pizza twice. We really, really love this delectable meal! We enjoyed eating this outside on our deck with some locally grown watermelon. On a side note, can you believe my husband tried watermelon for the first time this past weekend? He thought he didn't like watermelon, so he never tried it before. He's now hooked to watermelon too!

The recipe below doesn't have a lot of measurements, but I think that's the joy of finding recipe ideas at a farmer's market and recreating it at home. Plus, I really don't think you can mess this up as long as you season and top to your preferences.

Eggplant Pizza
Ingredients:
·1 medium eggplant

·Bowl of water, salted

·2 slices of gluten-free bread, chopped into crumbs

·Onion powder, garlic powder, Italian seasoning

·1 egg, beaten

·EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

·Pizza toppings - pizza sauce, cheese, spices, and toppings of choice

Directions:

Wash eggplant and slice into 1-inch thick slices. Place eggplant in a bowl of salted water, and soak for 20 minutes. Drain eggplant and soak up extra water with a towel.

Preheat oven to 350˚. Line a baking sheet with foil. Combine bread crumbs and seasonings in a shallow bowl. In a separate shallow bowl, lightly beat an egg. Coat eggplant slices by dipping them into the beaten egg and then into the bread crumb mixture.

In two large skillets, heat a tablespoon of EVOO in each skillet. Lightly brown/pan fry breaded eggplant slices on each side.

Place browned eggplant on a baking sheet and top with the pizza toppings of your choice. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

I've also shared this recipe on: Seasonal Sunday