Eggplant Pizza

As promised when I posted my Zucchini Boats, a new eggplant recipe for you! Not to down my Eggplant Parm, either, but this recipe is way easier.

Ingredients:

- Eggplant
- Tomato Paste or homemade pizza sauce
- Mozzarella Cheese
- Parmesan Cheese
- Salt
- Olive Oil
*optional: fresh oregano, basil, parsley*

Directions:

- Cut your eggplant into pieces about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Try to make them as even as possible. If they are too thin, they won't be as good!
- Cover with salt and place over a colander or something like it (I definitely just used my bacon screen and placed it over my sink) to help the water soak out of the eggplant. In my life, things can soak out as much as they soak up! Ha! Let the eggplant sit for a good thirty minutes or so, until it looks as pictured below.Note: I would set your timer for about fifteen or twenty minutes, preheat your oven to 425, and then continue your timer as needed!*

- If you haven't already, preheat your oven to 425. Lightly coat your eggplant with olive oil.
- Place on a baking sheet and roast for 12 to 15 minutes, then turn them over and roast the other side. Pictured my eggplant was not cut as evenly as hoped, and you can see (top right) that my thin piece didn't do so well with the roasting.

- Once you've roasted both sides, switch your oven to broil. I put mine on low so the cheese is less likely to burn.
- Spread tomato paste/sauce or pizza sauce on your eggplant. This part it REALLY is up to you. You don't want to put too much sauce and have it get all soggy (which is why I used tomato paste the second time around), but it can still be yummy! If you're just using plain tomato sauce, I suggest adding some spices (see ingredients above).

- Sprinkle your cheeses on top of the tomato base/spices. Use as much as you like. Stick under the broiler for UNDER two minutes. This should melt the cheese perfectly (just to bubbling and before too brown/burned).

VOILA! A healthier pizza for your liking. The great thing is you really don't have to wait on this one either, and probably shouldn't. Eat while cheese is melty and the eggplant is still warm! There's no "final" picture because I was too busy eating it that I forgot to photograph it... oops!

Recipe adapted from Kath Eats Real Food