January 30, 2014

FIG, AUBERGINE & ROCKET PIZZA


I think this is the first pizza recipe that I have posted on here, so yay for that. It's also the first time I've had fig on a pizza, so a round of applause to that too. It's also the very first time that I've posted a recipe that is semi-shop brought so hooray for occasionally taking the pressure off!
I made this pizza last Thursday when I wanted something that could be made and consumed in the 1hr 15 minutes that my big kids were at their Woodcraft folk club (hippy street cred? check!). 
India was in bed, I poured a glass of something that may, or may not have been alcohol free, and I made this delicious pizza topping - lovingly created on top of a Sainsburys pizza base (other supermarkets are available people ;).
Had it been the weekend, I probably would have made my own dough, because let's face it, it does taste much better that way, but for a quick supper, this is 100% the way forward for me and I don't feel guilty, not one. little. bit! 




Ingredients (tops two pizza bases):

- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- 35g unsalted butter
- 1/2 onion, peeled
- 1 large aubergine
- coarse salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 150g grated mozzarella
- 3 or 4 figs, sliced
- 6 cherry tomatoes, sliced
- balsamic vinegar
- dried oregano
- 2 large handfuls of fresh rocket

Method:
First up make your pizza sauce. I always use this pasta sauce recipe as my pizza topping. It's simple and gorgeous & if you've never tried it over pasta then you MUST. 

1. Pre-heat your oven to 425f / 220c / GM7 and pop in a flat baking tray to warm up with the oven.
2. In a medium size saucepan put the chopped toms, butter and onion half into a pan on the hob. Bring to the boil then immediately reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 25 minutes until slightly thickened.
3. In the meantime, slice your aubergine into thin rounds. Sprinkle with sea salt and let sit on some kitchen paper for about 5 minutes.
4. Heat the olive oil in a large pan and gently fry off the aubergine in batches. You want them to be slightly browned all over. Once done, set aside.
5. Once your sauce is ready, take a large spoonful of each and spread over the base. You don't want loads, just enough to comfortably cover the bases.
6. Sprinkle each base evenly with most of the grated mozzarella, then continue by adding the aubergine slices, the figs and the cherry tomatoes. Sprinkle with a little balsamic vinegar (to bring out extra sweetness from the figs) and then add the remaining mozzarella & a generous helping of dried oregano.
7. Bake for about 10-15 minutes in the top half of the oven until the topping looks bubbling & delicious.
8. Scatter with the fresh rocket & enjoy!



Pssst - we're having this again tonight!!

8 comments:

  1. this looks fantastic Lia! And vegan too! I need to make this :) also your graphic design it looking amazing! x

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    1. it could so easily be vegan because you don't need the cheese personally (or use that vegan mozzarella - the name escapes me) and the sauce will be a lot less rich without the butter, but out could still work :) Give it a whirl and tell me what you think?

      Are you going back to just veggie in Feb, or staying vegan? x

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  2. Oh my!!! That looks amazing... adding to my cook list :)

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    1. it's delicious! Hope you love it as much as we did!

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  3. This looks amazing! And so much easier than making dough but still better than the tasteless ready made pizzas. The last time I tried to make dough was a disaster and I hadn't thought of this option, will definitely be giving it a go x

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    1. Yes, sometimes you just got to chillax don't you? Sainsburys do really good 'fresh' hand stretched bases, which are worlds apart from the other ones :) Top Tip ;)

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  4. Wow, I would never have thought to put figs in a pizza. It seems like genius!

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    1. They really work - especially with the balsamic. I did one with balsamic, one without & the one with was 100% more tasty! x

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