#1,418: Eggplant Pizza (w/out cheese)

I am really limiting my amount of dairy that I eat, so although these eggplant pizzas would be DELICIOUS with cheese sprinkled on top, I omitted it today.  You could easily make these as pizza-like as you prefer with ground sausage, pepperoni, ham and pineapple, etc, but I was going for ease and healthy.  So I topped mine with some roasted broccoli and shallots and some black olives.  These were delicious and I will definitely be making these again.  

1 eggplant, sliced
1/2 cup pizza sauce
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
2 tsp olive oil for brushing
toppings as desired

(I personally never care about the bitterness so I skip this step:) Slice the eggplant and sprinkle with some salt on each side. Set aside for thirty minutes, then rinse and pat dry. This will take some of the bitterness out of the eggplant, especially if you’re using a larger/older fruit.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Brush each side of the eggplant slices with olive oil, then sprinkle both sides 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper. Place the eggplants on a cooling rack that’s on a baking sheet, and bake until they are softened and a little brown, about six minutes.

Spoon the tomato sauce on the eggplant slices, then add the cheese and toppings. 

Return the baking sheet to the oven and bake for another five minutes, until the cheese is melted. Go ahead and broil it for a minute if you’d like some extra crispy toppings.

I also made this a second time and topped my eggplants with cooked taco meat.  It was even better!