{"id":4341,"date":"2017-11-14T01:00:50","date_gmt":"2017-11-14T06:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/?p=4341"},"modified":"2017-11-12T23:25:37","modified_gmt":"2017-11-13T04:25:37","slug":"eggplant-sausage-pizza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/eggplant-sausage-pizza\/","title":{"rendered":"Brad’s Corner: Fire Roasted Eggplant Tomato and Sausage Pizza"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I tossed the eggplants on the hearth and moved them to a pan after a bit.<\/p><\/div>\n

There’s this New York style pizza place nearby, in Hermosa Beach, CA, called Paisano’s Pizza<\/em> that has been a go-to slice and pie place for me for years. \u00a0When I first started going in I felt at home. \u00a0This was the real deal. \u00a0It was an East Coast pizzeria sitting right there, steps from the Pacific Ocean. \u00a0There was just enough chaos in the normal operation of the place to let you know this wasn’t a West Coast pizzeria trying to sell NY Pizza.<\/p>\n

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I was honored by the “Hey Paisano!” I’d receive when greeted at the counter while placing my order. \u00a0My favorite running joke with my wife or kids, when we’d be sitting down eating, was when they would call out to someone else, “Hey Paisano!” I would say, “Hey, I thought I was Paisano?!!” \u00a0I still laugh at that, but it grew old with\u00a0my wife and not long after with my kids. \u00a0It’s been a while, maybe I should try it again?<\/p>\n

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Using smaller Italian eggplants, I kept rotating them in the pan since I was roasting them while my Primavera Oven came up to pizza temps.<\/p><\/div>\n

My hands down favorite pizza at Paisano’s<\/em> was a slice of cheese with their breaded eggplant topping added. \u00a0They just did it right. \u00a0The eggplant was crispy on the outside and soft and juicy on the inside, and oozed enough liquid and oil from being fried to make it almost buttery at the same time. \u00a0Many a night we’d wait in line, after being ushered out of one of the local watering holes, for our slices or pies to go. \u00a0I can say with certainty that I have never run across anyone who did eggplant on a pizza better.<\/p>\n

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Once the eggplants were nice and soft and oozing it was time to pull them out of the oven and scrape them out.<\/p><\/div>\n

So, I was in an eggplant mood the other day and, so,\u00a0 I decided to use some eggplant to create the actual pizza sauce and then build from there. \u00a0Of course, I thought immediately of babaganoush<\/em> which is a Mediterranean dish of roasted eggplant with various seasonings served as a dip or spread. \u00a0Why not create a more Italian, or pizza oriented spread? \u00a0The ingredients that came to mind to season the eggplant\u00a0seemed obvious: \u00a0roasted garlic and tomatoes, with some salt and pepper, and a little red wine vinegar. \u00a0My wheels were turning. \u00a0I found this amazing recipe post for a Turkish version of Fire Roasted Eggplant:<\/em>\u00a0 *Link at <\/a>The Spruce.com.\u00a0<\/em> \u00a0What a beautiful post! \u00a0I wanted to take my pizza oven and mount it on my boat in the Mediterranean Sea, but being that would take thousands of dollars and years to plan (and a boat!), I opted to roll with this in my backyard.<\/p>\n

I ended up deciding to pair my eggplant sauce with a nice spicy Italian sausage for this pizza. \u00a0I thought the contrast of the spicy pork would go well with the sweet and savory fire roasted eggplant and tomato sauce I was going to create.\u00a0 Guess what? I was right!<\/p>\n

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Fire Roasted Eggplant Tomato and Sausage Pizza<\/strong><\/p>\n