Pizza alla Piastra con Melanzane, Ricotta Fresca & Ciliegini
Griddle-Pan Pizza with Eggplant, Fresh Ricotta Cheese & Cherry Tomatoes
You can fuss over cooking, you can go out of your way to buy exclusive and fancy ingredients and use complicated and extravagant preparations of your food...
...and you can also chill-out, "get jiggy with it" and make something simple, cheap, cool, healthy, delicious and easy like this. Just sayin' ;-)
Seriously- just a roll of store-bought pizza dough, a griddle pan or your grill and a few simple, fresh ingredients, around 20 minutes of time and next-to no effort, will get you these wonderful results! So, safe that fussing and hard work for some other time- this evening, take it easy!
As you can see, it took only 4 mini eggplants, 6 cherry tomatoes, 2 Spring onions, 2 tablespoons of fresh Ricotta, a little fresh basil and thyme, a drizzle of raw olive oil and a little salt and pepper... I told you it was simple!
The colors are right there- and of course so are the flavors! You can't get much more Italian looking or tasting than this! Red, white and green forever!
Obviously, you can make this with a home-made dough- but again, as simple as pizza dough is to make, when we are talking about making a snack for yourself- or even for the two of you... come on! It really is not worth that effort- save that for when you are cooking for the whole family or for friends!
You don't set out to bake a loaf of bread every time that you want to make a sandwich either! At least I hope not... I don't want any crazy people reading my posts!!!
Slice up your little eggplants, salt them and set them to one side whilst you prepare the rest... and multi-task!
Set the griddle onto your stove top to start getting nice and hot and in the meantime slice up the tomatoes and cut the Spring onions in half and then in half again lengthways.
Now that you have everything prepared and your griddle pan (or grill) is hot, cut your pizza dough to fit and lay it down just as it is, with no oil, for 4-5 minutes or so, until it begins to bubble and puff-up.
Now flip the dough over and grill from the other side for a further 3-4 minutes until it is cooked through and crusty and ready to go.
Now, grill the eggplant in the same way- 3-4 minutes from either side, pressing down so that it gets nice scorch-marks, so that you squeeze out the juices (which will help it cook) and tossing it over every now and then until it is cooked through.
Once the eggplant is done, push it to one side and add the onion slices. Stir them around on the hot griddle for 3-4 minutes, until they begin to brown, dry-out and become crispy- and obviously much more delicious than when they are raw... and that's it! You're ready to dress up your pizza and eat!
Spread the base lightly with Ricotta and season it with salt, before adding the eggplant, fresh tomato slices and toasted onions. Scatter with fresh thyme and a few basil leaves, season with salt and pepper and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Done.
I don't want to get ahead of myself too much...but... I think maybe you will like this. A lot. The chances are rather good.
Now, if it were High Summer, or if I were to be in Italy to enjoy it- then it would be better still... but being as it is Mid-Winter and I am in Frankfurt, Germany- I am going to say that this was mighty fine all the same!
Quite simply perfect and delicious- even if I DO say so myself!
Griddle-Pan Pizza with Eggplant, Fresh Ricotta Cheese & Cherry Tomatoes
You can fuss over cooking, you can go out of your way to buy exclusive and fancy ingredients and use complicated and extravagant preparations of your food...
...and you can also chill-out, "get jiggy with it" and make something simple, cheap, cool, healthy, delicious and easy like this. Just sayin' ;-)
Seriously- just a roll of store-bought pizza dough, a griddle pan or your grill and a few simple, fresh ingredients, around 20 minutes of time and next-to no effort, will get you these wonderful results! So, safe that fussing and hard work for some other time- this evening, take it easy!
As you can see, it took only 4 mini eggplants, 6 cherry tomatoes, 2 Spring onions, 2 tablespoons of fresh Ricotta, a little fresh basil and thyme, a drizzle of raw olive oil and a little salt and pepper... I told you it was simple!
The colors are right there- and of course so are the flavors! You can't get much more Italian looking or tasting than this! Red, white and green forever!
Obviously, you can make this with a home-made dough- but again, as simple as pizza dough is to make, when we are talking about making a snack for yourself- or even for the two of you... come on! It really is not worth that effort- save that for when you are cooking for the whole family or for friends!
You don't set out to bake a loaf of bread every time that you want to make a sandwich either! At least I hope not... I don't want any crazy people reading my posts!!!
Slice up your little eggplants, salt them and set them to one side whilst you prepare the rest... and multi-task!
Set the griddle onto your stove top to start getting nice and hot and in the meantime slice up the tomatoes and cut the Spring onions in half and then in half again lengthways.
Now that you have everything prepared and your griddle pan (or grill) is hot, cut your pizza dough to fit and lay it down just as it is, with no oil, for 4-5 minutes or so, until it begins to bubble and puff-up.
Now flip the dough over and grill from the other side for a further 3-4 minutes until it is cooked through and crusty and ready to go.
Now, grill the eggplant in the same way- 3-4 minutes from either side, pressing down so that it gets nice scorch-marks, so that you squeeze out the juices (which will help it cook) and tossing it over every now and then until it is cooked through.
Once the eggplant is done, push it to one side and add the onion slices. Stir them around on the hot griddle for 3-4 minutes, until they begin to brown, dry-out and become crispy- and obviously much more delicious than when they are raw... and that's it! You're ready to dress up your pizza and eat!
Spread the base lightly with Ricotta and season it with salt, before adding the eggplant, fresh tomato slices and toasted onions. Scatter with fresh thyme and a few basil leaves, season with salt and pepper and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Done.
I don't want to get ahead of myself too much...but... I think maybe you will like this. A lot. The chances are rather good.
Now, if it were High Summer, or if I were to be in Italy to enjoy it- then it would be better still... but being as it is Mid-Winter and I am in Frankfurt, Germany- I am going to say that this was mighty fine all the same!
Quite simply perfect and delicious- even if I DO say so myself!
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