Kitchen Adventure #2

A lot of Kitchen Adventures have been occurring recently, and this one is courtesy of my latest lazy Sunday afternoon. Eggplant has been a standard item in our fridge the last few weeks, but it has always ended up the same thing: eggplant Parmesan. It is tasty, but I wanted something new. I have been thinking a lot about the best pizza I ever ate. It was from a college pizza parlor across the street from Harvard. It was an eggplant and onion pizza. I realized I had all the ingredients to try to recreate this for myself.

Homemade Pizza Sauce: 2 Tablespoons of olive oil (let it get warm/hot), toss in one minced clove. Add 1 can crushed tomatoes, 1 can tomato sauce, 1 tsp of the following: basil, oregano, and marjoram. Mix and bring to temperature. Add a bay leaf and let simmer, while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

 A little bit of but and semi-circles of onions. Do not cook them completely, they will cook a little more in the oven. (I think red onions would have been better, but I used what I had around)

 Sweat the eggplant first with a little bit of salt. Let rest for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Cooking with a little bit of olive oil. Just like the onions, do not cook completely because it will cook more in the oven. (These would have been really great if I could have grilled them.)

First things last I guess. You have to make the dough first because it takes so much time. Mix together 1 pkg of yeast (or 6.5 tsp), 1 cup warm water, 2 tsp sugar, 1/4 shortening. Once mixed ad 3 or 4 cups flour and 2 tsp salt. Once the dough scrapes the side of the bowl it is done. Let it rise in a greased bowl for 1 hour (it should have doubled in size), and then divide into two balls and let them rise for another 20 minutes. You can just roll the balls out, throw on some sauce and arrange ingredients however you like (I threw on some mushrooms too).

This was a tasty success in my household, it could have been better. My additions have been marked in italics for an even tastier pizza.For me nothing beats homemade pizza and the wonderful smells emitted in the process: bread-making (always smells like home), onions and garlic sizzling in oil, and the smell of the flavorful tomato sauce simmering on the stove. MMMmmm can't wait for my next kitchen adventure.