EGGPLANT PIZZA WITH SICILIAN CRUST (THE CHEW)

By peridot728

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 cups dry bread crumbs
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 1 eggplant (peeled & sliced lengthwise, 1/4-inch-thick)
• 1 cup olive oil (plus more as needed)
• 1 recipe Sicilian dough (proofed & prepared)
• all-purpose flour (for dusting)
• 3 cups cooked marinara sauce
• 1/2 pound whole-milk mozzarella (cut or torn into 1-inch pieces)
• 1/4 cup grated pecorino (plus more as needed)

Details

Adapted from abc.go.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 450ºF.

In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs and milk. Place the bread crumbs and parsley in a separate shallow bowl, and stir to combine.
Dredge the eggplant slices in flour and shake off any excess. Soak the eggplant slices in the egg mixture, then dredge them in the bread crumbs until well coated.

Coat a rimmed baking sheet with a thin layer of olive oil and spread the breaded eggplant in one layer on the pan. Generously drizzle olive oil on top. Bake the eggplant for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the oven heat to 500ºF.

Pour 1 cup of olive oil into a 16x11 inch roasting pan or rimmed baking dish.
Turn out the dough onto a floured surface. Gently stretch it, pressing down from the outside and working your way toward the middle. Try not to take all the air out of the dough. Once it's flattened, place it in the prepared baking dish and gently pull it to fit the shape of the dish. Take a knife and poke as many holes as you can through the dough. (If it's an aluminum roasting pan, make sure you don't poke any holes through the pan!)

Brush some olive oil on the dough and spread 1/4 cup of the tomato sauce on top. Bake for about 5 minutes, until the dough gets golden brown on top. Remove the pan from the oven and distribute the mozzarella as evenly as possible over the dough. Spread some sauce to cover the mozzarella. Cover that with the pecorino and eggplant then add more sauce and mozzarella on top. Bake for 12 minutes more, or until the cheese is golden brown. Remove from the oven, top with additional pecorino, and serve hot.