Eggplant Parmesan Pizza
To make this pie with fewer calories, don't batter and fry the eggplant slices. Instead, spritz slices with cooking spray and bake at 400° until slightly softened. Then use as directed on pizza.
Makes two 12-inch pizzas
INGREDIENTS
- 2 large or 3 medium eggplants, sliced horizontally ¼-inch thick
- 1 to 2 teaspoons coarse salt
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup milk
- 4 cups fine seasoned bread crumbs
- Vegetable oil for frying
- ½ recipe Chicago Deep-Dish Crust dough
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 cups Chunky Tomato Sauce
- 2 cups shredded Parmesan cheese
- 4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Discard ends of eggplants. Sprinkle slices with coarse salt and set in a sieve or on paper towels to drain for 20 minutes. Rinse salt from eggplant slices and pat dry with paper towels.
Whisk together eggs and milk. Pour bread crumbs onto a large plate or pie pan. Dip each eggplant slice in egg mixture and coat lightly with seasoned bread crumbs.
In a large skillet, pour oil to a depth of about 2 inches. Heat over medium-high heat until a drop of water sizzles in the oil. Fry eggplant slices, a few at a time, until browned. Drain on paper towels.
Roll out two circles of pizza dough. Spread olive oil in two 12″ deep-dish pizza or pie pans. Press dough circles into pans and prick bottoms a few times with a fork. Ladle 2 cups of tomato sauce into each pan, followed by ½ cup of Parmesan cheese and ½ cup of mozzarella cheese.
Arrange fried eggplant slices over the cheese, overlapping as necessary. Divide remaining 1 cup of Parmesan and 3 cups mozzarella over the eggplant slices. Bake at 400° until browned and bubbly, about 20 minutes.
Eggplant Savvy
Buy firm, unblemished eggplants that seem heavy for their size. Large eggplants with a lot of dark seeds inside will be more bitter tasting than those with white or pale brown seeds. Salting eggplants before preparing draws some of the bitter liquid from the vegetable and results in more compact, meatier slices.
