Eggplant is your friend

I used to hate eggplant.  The thought of the so-perceived slimy purple vegetable was enough to make me turn up my nose.  However, the Chinese managed to break down my aversion to eggplant.  The Chinese know how to cook eggplant; in fact, some of my favorite dishes over here are eggplant dishes.  And no, I don’t have Chinese recipes for eggplant preparation.  Five years in China and I have yet to master a single Chinese dish.  I know, it’s a shame. Anyways, back to my original line of thought.  Thanks to the Chinese, when I saw this recipe for a roasted eggplant and tomato pizza from one of my favorite cooking blogs, I was willing to give it a try.  And boy was it worth it!  First of all, the crust was the absolute perfect combination of chewy and crispy.  It will now be the sole recipe for all of my pizza crusts.  Secondly, the flavor of this pizza was incredible. I took the suggested add-on advice and put a layer of pesto sauce on top of the crust, which is a step I would definitely recommend.  Eggplant would have never been my first choice for pizza toppings before, but trust me, give it a try!  (If you’re looking for another Italian delight, check out the new recipe for breadsticks under “from the kitchen”.)