Melanzane Pizza

People always ask us if we have a big vegetable garden. Mostly, we have a CSA. Our travel schedule this summer doesn't allow us to plant a big garden. Flowers aplenty, sure--but we do have a few things in pots on the deck. Tomatoes, mostly. And chiles. Or at least we thought we did.

Earlier in the season, we shot a series of videos for weightwatchers.com, technique videos that will soon be up on the site. One of our editors brought her dear parents to the shoot at our house, an older Italian couple. Frankly, I wanted to blow off the shoot and spend time with them. Italians are some of the world's best foodies! We had lunch out on the deck and they were checking out our pots. "Melanzane!" her mother exclaimed. We were very patient. "No, no, peppers. Chiles." But she was insistent. We showed her the little tag from the farm where we got the plants. "Peppers," we kept saying.

They were eggplants. She knew. We should have listened. Italians, after all. So we've now got eggplants growing on the deck. Not such a bad thing. And certainly worthy of a good pizza.

Which first needs a good sauce. Here's a terrific, no-cook one, a riff on one of the zillion sauces in our pizza book (which you can find here). Put 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, half a 6-ounce can of reduced-sodium tomato paste, 2 hot cherry tomatoes (pitted and stemmed--you can see the core sitting on top of the processor blade), 1 tablespoon oregano leaves, and a quartered garlic clove in a mini food processor. Whir it up and you've got sauce. Actually enough for two pies. Save the other back in the fridge for up to a week.

Next, slice two small eggplants lengthwise and grill them until just tender, about 2 minutes a side. You can also use a grill pan in the kitchen. You want them to have good grill marks but not be overcooked because they'll go back over the heat on the pizza. Transfer them to a plastic bag, seal tightly, and set aside for 15 minutes to soften somewhat.

Now the dough. We used Stop&Shop's finest, found right near the fresh pasta in the refrigerator section. Yes, we could have made our own. But it's summer. I mean, how much time does a guy have? Besides, we're too busy mistaking plants in pots to make a fresh dough. Just take it out of the bag, then shape it by first dimpling and flattening it on a well-floured surface, then picking it up by the rim and gently stretching it into a rough, 12-inch circle. Set it back down on a wooden pizza peel, again well-floured. Very well. Don't have a pizza peel and other fancy pizza-making things? Then shape the dough and lay it on a large, lipped baking sheet, transforming it into a rough 11 x 7-inch rectangle with a little stretching.

Now the heat. We used a pizza stone on the grill. Heat half a gas grill to about 500F or build a medium-high-heat, well-ashed coal bed in a charcoal grill, then rake the coals to the perimeter of the grill. Set the stone over the unheated section of the grate of either the gas or charcoal grill. However, if you're using a baking tray, there's no need for such complicated machinations. Just build the fire as directed, then you'll set that baking tray over the unheated section of the grill to bake the pizza.

Top it. Spread half that tomato mixture over the pie, leaving a little border at the perimeter. Then lay the griled eggplant slices around the thing, preferably like spokes of a wheel. Sprinkle about 1/4 cup chopped, pitted green olives on the pie, then top with 1/2 cup finely grated cheese. We used a mixture of Parmigiano-Reggiano and Jarlsberg. You could use mozzarella or even Monterey Jack as part of the mix.

Slide the pie from the peel to the hot stone--or set the baking sheet over the heat as directed. Cover the grill and bake until the dough is lightly browned (pop any bubbles that form) and a little firm to the touch, about 18 minutes.

Once it comes off the grill, drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil over the thing and cut it into slices. Use a really nice finishing oil if you have one. Simply decadent and delicious, perfect deck food for the end of summer.

Oh, and one more thing. I told you we're writing the first-ever all-goat book. Well, at the same time we made this pie, we also tested a recipe for that book, so I thought I'd let you have a little sneak preview of what's to come: a pizza with tarragon/almond pesto, goat cheese, sliced peaches, and hot red pepper flakes. Holy cow.