Eggplant Parmesan Pizza

Do you ever get a food craving that stays with you for weeks?  Usually it's something I've had before, but in this instance, it was something I'd seen on a menu.  

When my parents were here, I'd picked up a couple of pizzas one night on my way home from work.  One thing about Vegas is it's definitely its own little melting pot.  The number of people I've met that are Las Vegas natives is pretty small and it's quite fascinating to see where everyone is from.  That translates into some pretty diverse food, restaurants and grocers.  There's one grocery store here, Glaziers,  that specializes in special request food items from other geographic areas.   Walking through the store you can find some NY Peter Luger's steak sauce (so delish on sliced tomatoes and onions), TastyKakes from Philly, fresh(frozen) pastas and sauces from Brooklyn and even Lyle's Golden Syrup from England.  Yes, this city is like a mini NYC with its food choices.  All that to say that I've found some pretty great NY style pizza here with it's enormous floppy pieces that you have to hold with two hands.  When I was picking up the pizza for my family I'd seen an eggplant parm pizza on the menu that I was so drawn to.  While it's definitely not the type of pizza I pick up for Dad,  I've been fixated on the idea since.   Eggplant parm is one of my favorites and throwing it on a pizza couldn't be too shabby.  

I started with homemade croutons in place of breadcrumbs.  You could of course use Italian flavored breadcrumbs but I like the crunch and the fresh flavor that comes with homemade croutons.  Add a bit of parmesan and dried basil along with the croutons before you pulse.

I choose to bake my eggplant but you can also pan fry them until golden after breading them. I've also seen pre-breaded eggplant at Trader Joe's all ready to throw into an eggplant parm.  It's pretty intriguing actually.

Garlic oil is available at just about any grocery store but I like to make my own and keep it on hand for just about everything. It's pretty handy ingredient to have on hand. 

Any favorite tomato/pasta sauce could be used instead of canned diced tomatoes.

This definitely isn't a pizza for the carb conscious...pizza crust plus breaded eggplant equals lots of yummy carbs.  I loved this variation of eggplant parm--it seemed lighter without all of the additional tomato sauce and layers of cheese.  It seems like the kind of eggplant parm that just goes better with iced tea or beer than a big glass of red wine. 

Eggplant Parmesan Pizza

1 small eggplant
3 cups croutons
1/2 cup shaved or crumbled parmesan
1 tsp dried basil
2 eggs, beaten well
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 lb pizza dough
garlic oil
14oz can Italian seasoned diced tomatoes
1/3 cup fresh basil
8 oz mozzarella thinly sliced (or grated)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees f and lightly oil baking sheet
2. Add croutons, 1/3 cup of the parmesan and dried basil to food processor and pulse to coarse crumbs.  Pour crumbs into shallow dish and season with salt, pepper and garlic powder
3. Beat two eggs well in another shallow dish
4. Thinly slice eggplant(I sliced mine less than 1/4 of an inch).  Dip in eggs and then into crumbs, coating entirely.  Lay on baking sheet. Repeat until all eggplant is coated
5. Bake on middle rack for 8 mins,  remove from oven and turn eggplant.  Return to oven and bake additional 7 minutes then remove from oven and set aside
6. Lightly grease another baking sheet (or reuse baking sheet from eggplant.  Remove eggplant taking care not to stack the eggplant--stacking will cause eggplant to steam and make crumbs coating soggy)
7. Hand stretch dough.  Lightly brush with garlic oil
8. Drain juices from tomatoes, crush tomatoes with hands and sprinkle across dough
9. Top with cooked eggplant.  Tear basil into pieces and sprinkle across eggplant.  Top with mozzarella slices and remaining 1/3 cup parmesan.
10. Bake for 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown.  Serve immediately