Grilled Eggplant and Ricotta Pizza
This pizza is inspired by the signature pizza at Le Galet in Nice, France. With only a few simple ingredients: grilled eggplant, tomato, basil, mozzarella and ricotta, it tastes like a Mediterranean summer. Make the pizza dough the day before you make the pizzas so it has time to develop flavor through fermentation.
Servings: 4 (2 - 10 inch pizzas)
Calories: 430kcal
Equipment
- pizza stone
- Pizza Peel
Ingredients
- 1 recipe pizza dough sourdough or regular *see links below
- 15 oz can San Marzano whole tomatoes drained
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 3 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 1 medium eggplant cut into ¾ inch rounds
- half of 8 oz mozzarella ball torn into small pieces
- 3 oz ricotta
- fresh basil leaves
- salt, pepper
- red chili flakes
Instructions
- Place pizza stones in oven and preheat oven to 500 F for 1 hour (if you don’t have pizza stones, use upside down sheet pans but don’t preheat them). While oven is preheating, take pizza dough out of refrigerator and let come to room temperature. Cut into two balls, place on floured surface and form each into a 10 inch round.
- For the pizza sauce: Put the drained can of tomatoes in a bowl and use an immersion blender to blend, leave some chunks (or blitz in a food processor, or finely chop and mush a little with flat edge of knife). Drain tomatoes of extra water. Add oregano and salt and pepper to taste.
- For the eggplant: Brush eggplant slices with some of the olive oil and season with salt. Cook on grill pan, in 2 batches, on med-high heat about 5-7 minutes a side or until charred. Set aside.
- Place first pizza dough round on semolina or cornmeal dusted pizza peel. Brush olive oil on edges of dough. Spread dough lightly with pizza sauce (you will have extra sauce). Sprinkle on half of mozzarella. Place 5 slices of eggplant in a circle around pizza. Add 3 T. ricotta around the center. Slide pizza onto pizza stone (or sheet pan). Bake approx. 7 minutes, turn on convection and bake about 3 minutes more or until brown and bubbling. Using peel, transfer pizza to cutting board. Repeat above with second pizza dough round.
- Top each pizza with salt, pepper, fresh basil and chili flakes, slice and enjoy!
Notes
My Sourdough Pizza Dough recipe.
My Original Pizza Dough recipe.
Nutrition for 1/2 of a pizza:
Calories: 450 Protein: 17 g Carbs: 58 g Fat: 13 g