Meatless Monday: Eggplant Pizza

Want an idea for a great use for delicious eggplant? It’s a good substitute for less healthy pizza toppings such as pepperoni or sausage. This is nice to make on a Monday because it’s really quick, and you can use whatever you have in the fridge as a topping. It allows you to use up leftover bits of cheese, and odd ends of vegetables. As for the crust, I always buy one whole-wheat pizza dough per week from the grocery store’s refrigerated section and keep it for a day when I want an easy but tasty dinner for two. Here’s how I made this one:

-Slice one medium eggplant lengthwise. Coat with salt and set aside.

-Meanwhile, grate up whatever cheeses you have in the fridge (for this one I combined a bit of blue cheese with a bit of cheddar; with such strong-flavoured cheese, you don’t need a lot of it).

-Prepare whatever vegetables you have; I chopped a red pepper and sliced whole yellow and red tomatoes.

-Stretch dough across a pizza pan ( a cookie sheet will do). Place sliced whole tomatoes on top; they act as the ‘sauce.’ Then sprinkle on  the red peppers, and some fresh herbs; I used rosemary, but thyme and basil are also good. Top with grated cheese.

-Rinse salt from eggplant slices and pat dry. Place on top of cheese. Bake pizza at 400 degrees for about 15 or 20 minutes, or until crust edges are brown.