Eggplant Pizza with Tomato Sauce

Eggplant was abundant at my CSA this year.  Lucky for them because with the drought we've had, not much else was hearty enough to withstand it. 

Lucky for them, less lucky for me, since I don't love the stuff.  Ratatouille - meh.  Eggplant Parmesan - can't do bread crumbs.  Babaganoush - looks like a big pile of mush.  I can't just throw the things away and giving them away seemed kind of wasteful also.  Somewhere my brain recalled a video of someone making a Paleo pizza crust from eggplant.  I haven't had pizza in forever.  Pizza is delicious!  Yay brain!  Let's make PIZZA!

I won't try to fool you and say this pizza tastes just like delivery.  But if you have eggplant, this is a pretty good vehicle for using it up.  And eggplant is really healthy and has lots of fiber.   Mmmm... Fiber.  Just kidding.  But we all know we need it, especially after a lot of meat-gorging.

The recipe for the crust is simple, and I used one I found here:

INGREDIENTS

About a pound of eggplant, shredded

2 whole eggs, beaten

1 oz, weight (about 1/4 cup) grated parmesan cheese

1 Tbs golden flax meal

1/4 tsp salt

Coconut oil

Sauce, cheese, and toppings of your choice

Preheat oven to 450

Toss the eggplant shreds with the salt while you prepare the other ingredients. This will help draw out some moisture.

Squeeze out as much moisture as you can from the eggplant (either by hand or using the press method shown below).

Combine the drained eggplant shreds with the other ingredients.
Line a baking sheet or pizza pan with parchment paper. Lightly coat it with coconut oil. Press the eggplant mixture into a round shape about 1/4" thick.

 

  Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown. 

 

Flip the crust half way through baking: coat a second piece of parchment with coconut oil and lay it on top of the pizza crust.  Put a second cookie sheet on top of the parchment and flip the whole works over (please PLEASE do not burn yourself.  If you are clumsy, please wait until the first cookie sheet has slightly cooled before attempting this maneuver).  Remove the first cookie sheet and peel the first piece of parchment off. 

Continue baking another 5 - 10 minutes or until golden brown, then top with pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, and whatever toppings you like.  I used Applegate Naturals Uncured Pepperoni.  I also highly recommend crumbled homemade sausage.


Pizza Sauce

6 oz. can tomato paste
1 teaspoon coconut sugar (optional)
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

After topping, bake an additional 5 - 7 minutes, until the cheese has melted. 

This re-heats really well in a toaster oven, if you have leftovers.




.

Paleo Zucchini Bread

Just look at that gorgeous, tall loaf of bread.

One thing that I struggled with about Paleo (and being gluten-free) was the nasty bread alternatives.  Gluten-free breads are typically dry and crumbly.  Okay for toast or bread crumbs but I never found one suitable for a sandwich. 

Paleo bread recipes do not rise the same as traditional breads.  There is no gluten in them to help the molecules hold together but there are other ways to achieve baking magic.  Cooking is an art, but baking is a science.  Once you learn the science, the recipes become managable.  I realize not everyone is a science-of-baking nerd like me, so I will do a whole other post about the science of Paleo baking some other day.  Let's just talk about this pretty loaf right here.

Zucchini bread.  Healthy, right?  Traditionally, no.  My original recipe calls for lots of sugar, flour, and a little zucchini.  My improved recipe has less than 1/2 tablespoon of honey per slice which makes it very low carb.  I don't feel guilty eating this bread.  It is moist and delicious and since it's not very sweet, I might even use it to make a sandwich.  But really, it's so good all on its own, it'll probably never make it to sandwichdom.

After shredding, squeeze some of the liquid out of the zucchini.  Just simply take a small handfull and squeeze it before measuring and pack it lightly in the measuring cup.
Or you could do this method.   Place the shredded zucchini into a fine mesh strainer over a larger bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, place a smaller bowl on top and put into the bowl a weight of some kind. This is a 1-pound jar. Then let it sit for one hour.

Low Carb Zucchini Bread

1 cup almond butter (toasted, unsweetened)
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1/3 cup honey
3 eggs
1 cup shredded zucchini (squeezed)
1/2 cup golden flax meal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (or 1/2 tsp. ground ginger, 1/2 tsp. nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon allspice)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare a bread pan by coating with coconut oil and line the bottom with a piece of parchment paper, then coat the parchment with a little more coconut oil.
In a large bowl, mix together almond butter, coconut oil, honey, and eggs then stir in zucchini.  In a smaller bowl, mix together flax meal, salt, baking soda, and spices then stir the dry ingredients into the zucchini mixture.  Add vanilla. 
Place into parepared pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.
After removing from the oven, allow the bread to sit in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and allow it to cool on a rack. 

Slice and wrap the cooled loaf in plastic and store in the refrigerator for 1 week (if you can keep it around that long) or store in the freezer wrapped in plastic and placed in a zipper freezer bag with most of the air squeezed out.  This loaf will keep in the freezer for 4 or 5 months.








.

Collard Wraps

Wrap sandwiches are a quick, portable lunch.  Collard leaves make a wonderful Paleo alternative to tortillas for wrap sandwiches.  Turn over the leaf and with a sharp knife, remove as much of the rib as possible without cutting through the leaf.  I found that it's much easier to do this if I bend the leaf over the edge of the cutting board.

 

Add sliced meats and cheese (if you are ok with dairy), onion, peppers... or whatever you like.  Fold in the ends and roll up.  I look for large leaf bunches but if you can't find them, you can set two together: stem-end overlapping stem-end and continue wrapping the same way.  You will have a separation you have to pay attention to, but if you overlap enough, your wrap will stay together.

 



 

 

Wrap in plastic.

Another option for filling is cashew cheese or use cashew cheese as a base for mock chicken salad (add onion, celery, sunflower seeds, a bit of apple cider vinegar, some walnuts, if you like).

 

Dry ingredients work best as fillings since the collard leaf will not absorb any moisture.  Meatballs and marinara are not recommended... take my word for it.  You may as well try to eat soup with chopsticks.

 

 

 

 

 

.