Meatless Monday’s: Mediterranean Pizza

This pizza originated as a Moroccan Pizza at a wonderful vegetarian recipe website from New Zealand, Veggie Num Num. I have changed it somewhat, according to what I had in the garden and in the kitchen. I used my own crust recipe. The crust is really toothsome, not soft and the toppings are not swimming in sauce and cheese. It is really flavorful and you can taste all the ingredients. It can be reheated in your oven or a toaster oven or in a microwave (but it’s not as crispy in the microwave).

Preheat oven and stone to 450 for at least 15 minutes (sprinkle the stone with some white corn meal right before you put the pizza on it)
Makes 6-8 good sized pieces of pizza

Thin Pizza Crust

I used my thin crust pizza dough recipe. I made sure I turned up a nice lip around the edge of the pizza. This thin crust recipe will make a 12″ X 15″ pizza. I actually added the toppings before I put the pizza in and cooked it until the eggplant looked cooked (about 10-15 minutes)

Mediterranean Pizza Toppings

1/2 medium eggplant, sliced in half longways then sliced 1/4″ half moons
1 medium zucchini, sliced in 1/4″ discs (from our garden)
1/2-1 cup yellow, white or red onions, diced (to your taste)
1-2 cloves spicy garlic, minced
1 small to medium thin skinned mild pepper, like a lemon or gypsy (here you want a little heat, not much) (the gypsy was from our garden and it’s like a fresh pepperoncini)
1/2 cup small green olives stuffed with pimento, sliced
freshly cracked black pepper to taste
1 T my tomato paste
1 T Moroccan Hot and Spicy Blend paste (this is an Australian product that is really good, if you can’t find it, you could add harissa (much hotter than this paste) or a mixture of fresh coriander (or cilantro), fresh ginger, garlic, cumin and black pepper)
good olive oil
1/4 C fresh basil, torn (from our garden)
1/4 C fresh mint, torn (from our garden)

Saute the onions, garlic and peppers in a little neutral oil like canola or safflower until a little soft. Spread the tomato paste and the Moroccan Blend paste on the pizza crust. Add a layer of the onions, peppers and garlic. Add a layer of eggplant slices and then a layer of zucchini slices. Sprinkle with some freshly ground black pepper and the green olives. Drizzle with some good olive oil. Place using a pizza peel (if you have it) on the pizza stone and cook for about 10-15 minutes until the crust is golden and the eggplant is cooked. You may have to turn down the oven to 350 if it is cooking too fast. After you take the pizza out of the oven, sprinkle with the torn fresh basil and mint. Let sit in a pizza pan until cooled a little then slice and serve.

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