Eggplant and Zucchini Pizza with Basil and Cherry Tomatoes

Back when I worked at a certain big hotel in San Francisco, one of my coworkers was a big fan of a local pizza place, Vicolo.  She raved about it, and I’m sorry to say we never got around to trying it, because we were big fans of North Beach Pizza and Mozzarella Di Bufala, and rarely ventured elsewhere.  I think what they were famous for was their cornmeal crusts.  I assume that because last week at my local grocery store, I saw these Vicolo pre-made cornmeal crusts in the refrigerated section.  It made me think of a recipe from

The Greens Cookbook that we like.  We usually eat it on Boboli, which is pretty meh.  Would it be better with a cornmeal crust?  Yes indeed.  I thought the resulting pizza was delicious, though heavier, denser, than a regular pizza crust.

I ended up making the toppings for the Greens recipe, and also sauteing some mushrooms and sausage, and we did a build your own pizza for dinner.  I wish I had taken a picture of our three pizzas hot out of the oven, because they were pretty gorgeous, but I didn’t think of it, so you get the pathetic picture up above, from the reheated leftovers the next day.

Eggplant and Zucchini Pizza with Basil and Cherry Tomatoes
Ingredients

• 1 recipe pizza dough (homemade, Boboli, or other pre-made crust)
• 1 medium zucchini
• 1 Japanese eggplant
• 4 to 6 tblsp olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 12 cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 2 oz mozzarella cheese, grated or thinly sliced
• 2 oz Fontina cheese, grated
• 3 tblsp basil, finely chopped
• Parmesan
• Fresh thyme and basil, finely chopped

Directions
Prepare the pizza dough and let it rise in a warm place.

Slice the zucchini and the eggplant diagonally into pieces 3 to 4 inches long and 1/4 inch thick. Heat 2 tblsp of olive oil in a large skillet, add a layer of the vegetables, and turn them over immediately to coat both sides with oil. Fry on each side until lightly browned – the eggplant will take longer than the zucchini – then set them on paper toweling to drain.  Cook the zucchini and eggplant in this way, making sure the oil is hot at the start of each batch.  Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Dress the tomatoes with a tblsp of the oil, the garlic, and salt and pepper.  Drain the tomatoes before putting them on the pizza.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F (for fresh pizza dough…follow directions for store bought) and if using a pizza stone, warm it for 20 minutes.

Shape the dough and place it on a well floured peel or on a pizza pan (peel?), and brush it with olive oil.  Distribute most of the mozzarella and Fontina, then the basil.  Arrange the zucchini and eggplant slices in overlapping layers with the tomatoes in and among them.  Finish with the rest of the mozzarella and Fontina cheese.

Slide the pizza onto the stone or bake on its pan in the upper third of the oven for about 8 to 12 minutes (or whatever your pre-made crust says to do), or until the edges and bottom are well browned.  Remove the pizza from the oven and garnish it with freshly grated Parmesan and the herbs.

Since the recipe doesn’t have any sauce, I didn’t have any in the house. But Ted and Maya spread a bit of tomato paste on their crust, then whatever ingredients they wanted. I made mine a 1/2 and 1/2 pizza, with 1/2 following the recipe, and 1/2 with the cheeses, tomatoes, basil, sausage, and mushrooms. It was delicious.