Hello lovelies,
pizza in the evening is almost a ritual in our house, and this eggplant pizza is one of the kinds we negotiate over at the table. On a thin, crisp crust, golden roasted eggplant, a hint of tomato sauce and mozzarella meet shaved Parmesan, fresh basil and candied walnuts. Sweet, salty, nutty and a little smoky from the hot oven: this combination surprises me every single time.
In the fall I also love baking my vegan pumpkin pizza with rosemary on a spelt crust. Both pizzas show how much flavor there is in vegetables when you give them a few minutes in a really hot oven.
Why I salt the eggplant first
Eggplant contains a lot of water. If you sprinkle the slices with salt and leave them in a sieve for 30 minutes, fine droplets appear, which you then pat off with a towel. That way the slices soak up less oil in the oven, get firmer and develop lovely brown spots. I pre-roast them so they no longer release water on the pizza, because the actual baking time is very short.
For the crust you only need flour, yeast, water, salt and olive oil. While the dough rises in peace, I salt the eggplant, pre-roast it and candy the nuts in a pan. I preheat the oven with a pizza stone on the highest setting for at least 30 minutes, because the hotter it is, the crispier the crust. With a pizza oven, each pizza is even done in 1 to 2 minutes.
For me, eggplant is one of the most versatile vegetables there is, especially from the oven. My eggplant lasagne with pesto is the best example of how creamy and flavorful it gets when baked.
The candied nuts are the little secret of this pizza. In Switzerland we call walnuts Baumnüsse, which simply means tree nuts. In the pan, just 1 Tbsp sugar gives them a fine caramel coating that goes perfectly with the salty Parmesan. And if there is still an eggplant left afterwards, my baked polenta parmigiana with eggplant is the next Italian dinner from the oven.
Give this eggplant pizza a try and tell me in the comments how you like the combination with the candied nuts.
