Pesto Pizza

Pesto Pizza Recipe

• Serves: makes 2 personal-size (9 inch/23 cm) pizzas
• Prep: 20 mins
• Cook: 13 mins

Besides the usual ready-made pizza crust, you can use all types of breads (such as flat bread, tortilla and pita bread) as the pizza base.

Ingredients

• 2 personal size (9cm/23cm) ready-made pizza base such as pizza crust, pita bread, tortilla etc
• 60 grams sweet basil leaves
• 40 grams toasted pine tnuts reserve one tsp for topping pizza
• 2 cloves garlic peeled and sliced
• 60 grams grated parmesan cheese
• 125 ml extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt to taste
• freshly cracked black pepper to taste
• a few basil leaves for topping
• 8-10 slices eggplant (brinjal or aubergine) sliced to roughly 1.5 cm thickness
• 6 button mushrooms stalks trimmed and sliced thickly
• 6 cherry tomatoes halved
• a small handful shredded cheese of your choice for topping the pizza

Instructions

1. To make fresh pesto, blend basil, parsley, nuts, garlic and cheese until well combined. With the blender motor still running, gradually pour in extra virgin olive oil to achieve a thick, smooth consistency. If the pesto becomes too thick, add more oil. You can also use a mortar and pestle to pound the ingredients. Season with salt and pepper, or more cheese to taste.
   
2. Brush eggplant slices with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Sit eggplants and mushrooms on a wire rack and grill for about 5 minutes, or until they start to brown.
   
3. Spread home-made pesto evenly over the pizza crust using the back of a spoon. Tip: start from the outside so that you won’t neglect the outer edges.
   
4. Arrange grilled eggplants, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes over the pizza and top with shredded cheese of your choice.
   
5. Bake the pizza at preheated oven of 200°C for about 8 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the eggplants brown further. Scatter remaining pine nuts and a few basil leaves over the cooked pizza.