This week's challenge - it's not an egg...

... but it is a plant. I love living in Florida because the growing season is 365 days a year. Which means we have farmers' markets every single weekend. But unlike up north, farmers' markets are more common in winter than in the summer. In fact, I had to go online and see to where the one I used to go to had disappeared. Turns out it's inside a Lutheran church. I'm glad I went though! My bounty only cost me $22.50 (and I forgot to pull out five onions and two Hass avocados from my bag before I snapped this picture:

Not too shabby! Bananas, beefsteak tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, a zucchini, a squash, banans, peaches, new potatoes, spaghetti squash, a green pepper, a red pepper, and, of course, an EGGPLANT!

I went into the produce stall hoping to find a good vegetable to cook with this week, something that I would have to do some research to find a pretty awesome recipe. I quickly spotted the eggplants and knew that would be the perfect vegetable to challenge myself. 

I think I've only had eggplant once - in a slimy lasagne from the freezer section. So I was a little nervous not knowing what it actually tastes like, and the only other food I could think of that uses it (besides slimy freezer lasagne) was eggplant parmesan. Not exactly appealing when I'm trying to cook healthy, real foods. But then my friend Google recommended an Eggplant Parmesan Pizza from eatingwell.com. THAT I could get on board with! 

I started out by slicing the eggplant (I did NOT know it was so pale inside - what a contradiction!), and slicing tomatoes (side note: I DO NOT like tomato seeds. So any time I slice a tomato, I dump the seeds. Feel free to leave the seeds in if you're cool with them though). 

Then on to the grill for the eggplant!

I sliced the eggplant both lengthwise and longwise, and snuck a taste - kind of like squash and zucchini. I felt much better about the pizza at this point!


Then I rolled out the dough, and layered on the tomatoes, olive oil, garlic (Mr. Crabs' favorite vegetable, hence four cloves instead of the original one), basil, and some pepper to taste. Finally the eggplant went on, then the cheese. (another side note: our local Publix grocery store did not have a great cheese selection. I could not find any Parmigiano-Reggiano so I ended up picking up a Pecorino-Romano since it was also a hard Italian cheese. I realized how bad the cheese selection really was when I went to open the wrapper and noticed it had a sell-by date of April 26, 2012. That would be pretty much three months ago. It smelled okay though so onto the pizza it went!)

Nekkid pizza dough 

Add tomatoes, garlic, basil, olive oil...

...and eggplant and cheese!

The pizza baked in the oven for about 12 minutes, then I transferred it to a pizza board so I could cut it. It was really good! I'm sure it's no comparison to a good Eggplant Parm from Little Italy in Cleveland, but it was a great, fresh pizza (we're both LOVING the sliced tomatoes instead of marinara or pizza sauce). It was messy to eat, but Mr. Crabs enjoyed it so much he asked if it was easy enough for me to make when we go on vacation with his family in Missouri next month. Um, yeah! 

Eggplant parmesan pizza!

Since I only used half of the HUGE eggplant, I also found a recipe for ratatouille for later in the week... stay hungry!

Ingredients

• 1 small eggplant, (I used 1/2 of a large one)
• Yellow cornmeal, for dusting
• 1/2 pound Whole-Wheat Pizza Dough (mine was from Trader Joe's)
• 2 Beefsteak tomatoes, sliced
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons chopped dried basil
• 4 medium cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup thinly shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, (still good with Pecorino-Romano)

Instructions

1. Preheat grill to medium-high. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. Cut eggplant into 1/2-inch thick rounds. Grill, turning once, until marked and softened, 4 to 6 minutes. Let cool slightly, then thinly slice into cubes.
3. Sprinkle cornmeal onto a pizza peel or large baking sheet. Roll out the dough and transfer it to the prepared peel or baking sheet, making sure the underside of the dough is completely coated with cornmeal.
4. Lay tomato slices over the dough, covering as much as possible (since there is no sauce, you don't have to leave a "crust" portion if you don't want to)
5. Drizzle olive oil over the tomatoes. Sprinkle on garlic, basil, and eggplant.
6. Top with cheese and bake 10-12 minutes, or until crust is browned.