Eggplant & Roasted Red Pepper Pizza with a Balsamic Glaze
Unsure of what to make tonight? Try this eggplant pizza recipe!
At first when I ran across the original eggplant pizza recipe in my Pizza book (Brigit Binns), I thought “who in the world would want eggplants on their pizza.” Well, apparently me.
The only reason I decided to give it a shot was #1 – I was making two pizzas and I knew we wouldn’t starve if we decided to throw it away and #2 – I had eggplants in the fridge that were going bad.
I first made the dough from my pizza recipe book – see below for recipe link. The more you cook/bake, the more you realize just how close dough recipes are. They are basically the same with just a few tweaks here and there so if you have your own dough recipe that you prefer to use, that would be perfectly fine as long as you roll your crust out to be very thin. I use parchment paper underneath to make the transfer from countertop to pizza stone/baking sheet much easier.
While the dough was rising, I got all the toppings ready. I baked the eggplants first (see this post). And then I shredded the cheese, roasted red peppers, and caramelized some onions. The dough was finished rising at this point and I formed it into a very thin circle and transferred the parchment paper/dough to a rimless baking sheet. Then I put all the toppings on and at the last minute, I decided to add a Balsamic Glaze to the top. I’m not sure what sparked that idea but it was the best idea I *ever* had. I drizzled it on top and baked it for 11 minutes.
Wow. We both loved it. Better than our typical pesto cheese pizza. I was amazed that it turned out so well and we both agreed that the balsamic glaze is what did it. So much flavor and it really reminded us of an expensive gourmet pizza.
*I changed the original eggplant recipe from the book quite a bit which is why I have not included it. The original recipe calls for less eggplant, uncaramelized onions, oregano, fontina cheese, capers, and NO balsamic glaze. Below is my own recipe.
Recipe & Ingredients
Thin crust pizza dough
2 eggplants, baked
1 roasted red pepper, about 1/4 cup
3 oz asiago cheese
3 oz mozzarella cheese
1 onion, caramelized
Balsamic Glaze
*Preheat your oven and pizza stone (if using) to 450F.
