My mom would make these all the time for us for dinner as a healthy alternative to pizza and I looked forward to them every time. She started serving small eggplant pizzas as appetizers for her dinner parties and they became a big hit. Later on, my sister made these in college when she would have parties and people who did not even like eggplant were devouring these bite size eggplant pizzas. I found all these beautiful eggplants at the farmer’s market this past weekend and decided it was time to bring back this childhood favorite of mine.
HEALTH BENEFITS OF EGGPLANT:
excellent source of fiber potent antioxidant helps to manage Type 2 diabetics reducing cholesterol
Ingredients:
1 large dark purple eggplant (large for single serve or small for appetizer size)
2 cloves of garlic
1 large mozzarella balls, sliced into ¼ inch thick slices
Olive oil
Salt
Cut the
eggplant in ½ inch circles. Sprinkle
each eggplant slice with salt on both sides and place in a large strainer.
Repeat with each slice placing each on in the strainer. Place the strainer in the sink so that the
water can be released from the eggplant slices.
Set aside for 1 hour. Rinse each
eggplant slice of excess salt and place on a towel that is laid down flat. Place another towel on top of the eggplant
and gently push down to absorb the excess water. While you are waiting for the eggplant you
can make the tomato sauce but if you don’t feel like making it you can use
tomato sauce from a jar.
Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit and place the oven rack on the lowest shelf. Brush a baking sheet with a generous amount of olive oil. Place the eggplant slices evenly on the baking sheet. Brush each eggplant slice with a generous amount of olive oil. Spread tomato sauce on top of the eggplant slice just like on a pizza. Bake in the oven on the low shelf for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and place the mozzarella slices on top. Place baking sheet back in the oven on the lowest shelf and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for about 5 minutes before serving.
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients:
1 tb. olive oil
1 large tomato, chopped
1 large orange heirloom tomato, chopped
½ tsp sugar
¼ tsp paprika
¼ tsp oregano
Heat a sauté pan on medium heat and add olive oil. Add both kinds of tomatoes, sugar, paprika, oregano and sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper. In the sauté pan, cover, and cook on medium low heat for 15 minutes. Uncover the pan and remove from heat. Let it cool for about 10 minutes. Puree in a blender until smooth. Please Note: if you cannot find heirloom tomatoes or do not want to pay the extra money just buy 2 large red tomatoes.
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