This pizza is a celebration of vegetables we associate with late summer, but are still coming in strong in early fall. It’s heavy with roasted eggplant and tomatoes, sauteed shishitos, kale, cheese, and finished with garlic oil. So…perfection?
My full share this week was green tomatoes, red tomatoes, kale, garlic, shishitos, mustard greens, celeriac, perpetual spinach, and watermelon radishes. I made burritos with sauteed perpetual spinach/radish tops, roasted sweet potatoes, beans, rice, and avocado. This risotto with beans, sausage, and bitter greens is a wonderful start of fall meal – hearty and warming but not heavy. I’ve been eyeing this bibimbap recipe for the weekend, which is a perfect way to use up any random veg you have. I also have a craving for Thai green curry, but I haven’t found a recipe I want to use yet (do you have one?!).
Late Summer Hurrah Pizza
As I’ve written before, this is my go-to pizza dough recipe, and I usually sub half of the white flour for wheat. It is a very wet pizza dough which I spread it on a Silpat on a baking sheet and cook it on the lowest oven rack. If this is your first time making pizza dough, I suggest this recipe for a slightly easier to work with dough. This makes 6 servings, which for me is a half sheet pan and a quarter sheet pan of pizza (or you could make 2 smaller pizzas instead of 1 large and 1 small).
- 1 pizza dough, storebought or homemade (see note)
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved (or quartered if large)
- 1 pint fairy tale eggplant (or 1 regular eggplant), chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
- 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 pint shishito peppers, thinly sliced
- 1 bunch kale, stems removed and thinly sliced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 lb low moisture whole milk mozzarella, shredded
- Red pepper flakes
- 1 handful basil leaves, chopped
Preheat your oven to 400F. Place the cherry tomatoes and eggplant on a baking sheet and toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil and the salt. Roast for 15 minutes, stir, and roast for another 10 until the eggplant is soft and the cherry tomatoes have shriveled a bit. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. Turn the oven up as high as it will go (mine goes to 550F).
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium high and saute the shishitos for 5-7 minutes, or until softened. Remove the peppers from the pan and add the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Heat for 1-2 minutes until the oil starts to shimmer, then pour over the minced garlic.
Spread your dough on two baking sheets (I like to use a Silpat underneath, or you could use parchment paper).
Build the pizzas with the eggplant, tomatoes, and peppers first, then the kale, followed by the cheese. Finish by drizzling with the garlic and olive oil (use it alllll up!).
Bake for 10 minutes, or until the bottom is crispy and the cheese is browning and bubbly. Finish with basil and serve with red pepper flakes.
Vegetal Matters 