Tag Archives: pizza

Curry Eggplant Pizza

I’ve made a pizza for you.

Let me tell you about it.

It has eggplant. And curry hummus. And caramelized onions. And goat cheese. And toasted sesame seeds and fresh cilantro.

Would you like some?

I have been CRAZY about curry lately. I’ve loved the flavor since I first tried it. But lately, I can’t get it out of my mind.

There is a Thai place close to us that has the best curry dishes. My favorite (one I literally think about every single day) is a yellow curry. It is creamy and slightly spicy, and on top of a bowl of rice, heavenly.

And, I’ve been eating curried egg salad lately. I will hard boil some eggs, chop them up and mix with a dab of mayo (this one), a pinch of salt and pepper and a healthy dose of curry powder. I am in love with that.

So, we have had all of this beautiful eggplant from Three Springs and I have been thinking about curry-ing it for a bit now. I wasn’t sure how I wanted to do it, but this pizza is the end result.

I made some simple hummus: chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper and then: the curry. Yes, this hummus is packed with curry flavor. So, so good.

The hummus acts as the sauce on this pizza. I like this idea because I am always looking for unique alternatives to traditional red sauce pizza. It is a delicious and healthy alternative. I look forward to trying more hummus pizzas!

Also, let’s talk about the extras on this pizza. The toasted sesame seeds and fresh cilantro. Not the main ingredients but equally as important as anything else. The toasted sesame seeds add flavor + crunch and the cilantro adds the most amazing, fresh flavor. These toppings are necessities for this pizza.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Friday night and maybe enjoys some curry eggplant pizza with it!

Curry Eggplant Pizza

2013-09-06 07:42:38

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Ingredients

One pizza crust (your favorite!)
1 large eggplant
Olive oil
1 medium red onion, sliced
3-4 ounces goat cheese
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Large bunch of cilantro

For the curry hummus

1 15-ounce can chickpeas
1/4 cup sesame tahini
1 garlic clove, minced
Juice from 1/2 a lemon
Salt and pepper
1 1/4 teaspoons curry powder
3-4 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

For the toasted sesame seeds: preheat the oven to 400*. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and add the sesame seeds. Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes, or until slightly golden brown. Set aside.
To make the curry hummus, add the chickpeas, tahini, minced garlic, lemon juice, a pinch of salt and pepper and the curry powder to a food processor.
Process for several minutes, slowly drizzling in the olive oil.
Process until smooth.
Taste, and add more salt, pepper and curry powder to your taste. Set aside.
Slice the eggplant very thin. I found that the thinner the slice, the better it was on the pizza.
Add a drizzle of olive oil to a large pan over medium-high heat.
Once the oil is hot, add the eggplant, in batches, until all eggplant is cooked. It should be cooked on higher heat the entire time so it gets a bit crispy.
Add a drizzle of olive oil to a small pan over medium-high heat.
Add the sliced onion, and cook until golden brown and a bit caramelized.
Spread a layer of hummus over the prepared pizza crust. Top with onions, then cheese, then eggplant.
Cook according to your crusts instructions. Mine was an unbaked pizza crust, so I baked it for about 18 minutes.
Once baked, top the pizza with the toasted sesame seeds and fresh cilantro.
Enjoy!

Notes

Make sure to slice the eggplant thin and cook it over high heat in the pan to get it crispy, sort of like an eggplant "chip."

The Dreaming Foodie https://www.thedreamingfoodie.com/

Week in Photos

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Yay it’s Friday! I’ve been waiting for this Friday all summer.

My best friend (who now lives in Lexington) told me earlier this summer that we would be going shopping for her wedding dress this weekend, and I’ve been anxiously awaiting the day since. That means that we will both be home. We lived next door to each other since the beginning of my existence and we now each live hours from home, in opposite directions. It will be such a nice reunion!

We also have a nice little get-together planned at my house Saturday night with all of the people who I miss. Can’t wait!

Here are six things that made my week happy!

{This pizza. Toto’s is always a good idea.}

{These tomatoes. From Blooming Glen Farm. So good, just like this.}

{Ivy. Cute as ever, I think.}

{These cupcakes. I sent them in for Greg’s lab meeting.}

{The keys to our new apartment. It’s officially ours!}

{Going home today. Shopping tomorrow. :)}

I hope that you have a wonderful weekend! I will be back to talk to you Monday! 🙂

Asparagus, Kale + Mushroom Skillet Pizza

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What goes together better than Friday and pizza?

If you ask me, not much. Friday + pizza + perhaps a beer, if that’s what you’re into (I am).

This great combination just got even better. Pizza made in my beautiful cast iron skillet, with slightly sweet caramelized onion sauce, fresh asparagus, crunchy kale, balsamic mushrooms and salty parmesan cheese. O yes, Friday (or any day) is even better with this pizza.

The inspiration for this pizza came from two places.

The method came from the great Bev Cooks blog. I love Bev’s blog. She makes food that looks amazing and she is seriously hilarious. You have got to check out her blog. And this pizza idea? Brilliant.

The flavor combination was inspired by a great restaurant, Earth Bread + Brewery in Mt. Airy, Pa. Earth is the coolest little restaurant. It was the first restaurant that Greg and I tried in Mt. Airy and we were obsessed from the very first bite of hearth-baked flatbread. Earth makes flatbreads and they make them well. They are cooked in a wood-fire oven with ingredient combinations that just blow your mind.

We haven’t had anything there we don’t like, including their selection of small-batch, house-brewed beers.

One night not too long ago, we tried their “special” flatbread of the night. It had an onion marmalade as the sauce, kale, asparagus and mushrooms. Well, not too much later, I tried recreating it and this is what I came up with.

The delicious ingredients mixed with the skillet method makes for one great pizza.

You have got to try it!

Ingredients
1 ball of pizza dough
Olive oil
1 large red onion
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 bunch of asparagus
2 cups chopped kale
4 oz. mushrooms
4 oz. parmesan cheese

First work on caramelizing the onion. Slice the onion thin. Add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a pan over medium high heat on the stove. Add the sliced onion and a pinch of salt, stir and let cook about 5 minutes or until onions begin to soften. Add the balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar and brown sugar and stir well to incorporate into onions. Turn down heat and cook on medium low, stirring occasionally, until onions are caramelized, about 25-30 minutes.

While onions are caramelizing, prep all of your veggies. Preheat oven to 350*. Chop the asparagus into thirds.Toss asparagus and kale with olive oil to coat the veggies well and roast in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Set aside.

Slice the mushrooms. Toss with olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Roast in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Set aside.

Once onions are caramelized add to a food processor or mini food chopper (what I used). Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil with the onions and process until they are completely broken down and are thick and “sauce” like.

Now get ready to assemble the pizza. You can read the skillet method in-depth here. Place your cast iron skillet on your stove over high heat. Preheat your oven’s broiler. On a floured surface, roll out the pizza dough to fit into the skillet. Mine was 8 inches. Bev used a pizza skin to transfer her pizza from the counter top to the skillet. I don’t have a pizza skin so I used an extra wide spatula. Transferring the uncooked pizza from the counter to the skillet is tricky, so make sure you have a plan before you add the toppings.

For the pizza, spread a thick layer of the caramelized onion sauce onto the rolled out dough. Top with cheese. Then add on the asparagus, kale and mushrooms. Transfer the pizza to the hot skillet. Quickly transfer the skillet to the oven and broil. Bev said her pizza took 2 to 3 minutes, however, mine took around 10. Keep in mind that cooking time will vary depending on your oven.

Once the dough is cooked through and crust slightly crispy, remove the pizza from the oven, slice and enjoy!

*Notes:
-You can definitely make your own pizza dough like Bev did in the link
-I used a store-bought pizza dough that was 8 oz.
-You could also use the asparagus, kale and mushroom combination on a pizza without using the skillet method
-Do what works for you!

Weekend in Photos: Philadelphia

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So, today I am going to introduce you to someone.

This is Greg. Everyone say hi Greg!

Hi Greg!

Just about every other weekend I make a four-and-and-half hour trek across the PA turnpike to visit him. He is one of my bestest friends and my boyfriend!

He is attending graduate school in Philadelphia, so that means that I get to hang out and explore a new (to me) city with free lodging! How cool is that?

Anyway, expect to hear me talk more about Greg and Philadelphia, and now you know him and why I’m there.

Once the weather gets nice, expect to see more Philly posts, with outdoor photos.

So, here’s my weekend in photos — Philly style!

{We love Scrabble.}