roasted eggplant dip

looking for a simple & healthy afternoon snack? look no further…

all you need is fresh eggplant, plain greek yogurt and some basic pantry staples to whip up this simple roasted veggie dip. perfect with blue-corn tortilla chips — or, if you’re really on a health kick — carrot sticks or sliced bell peppers. yummers.

pre-heat oven to 375F

prep the eggplant:
in a large prep bowl, toss the following ingredients together until combined well:
- 1 large eggplant (sliced into half-moons)
- drizzle extra-virgin olive oil
- dash of sea salt
- season w/ ground black peppercorns

roast the eggplant:
- add eggplant chunks in an oven-safe roasting pan lined with cooking parchment paper
- season w/ ground black peppercorns
- roast eggplant chunks for approx 15min at 375F
- remove eggplant from oven and set aside to cool for a few minutes before blending

aubergine & arugula pizza

it was all about the aubergine. (read: eggplant was on sale at the market, so i was keen to find simple, inventive ways to incorporate the aubergine into my cooking!)

pizza seemed to be the ticket that night. so. good.

- preheat oven to 400F

prep the dough:
- sprinkle some whole-wheat flour on a clean surface before rolling out the fresh pizza dough (i bought some fresh from the bakery.)
- using a rolling pin, flatten out the dough into a thin, round pie
- sprinkle some more flour on the dough pie, flip over before applying the rolling pin again
- place the prepped dough pie on a pizza stone (at room temperature) or a lightly-greased, round baking pan

prep the toppings:
- 1 baby organic eggplant (sliced into bite-sized chunks)
- 1 tomato (rough chop)
- 1/4 white onion (peeled, thinly sliced)
- 1 cup fresh organic arugula
- pecorino romano (grated)

prep the pie:
- spread 2 tbsp plain, low-fat greek yogurt evenly on pizza dough
- season w/ ground black peppercorns
- add arugula leaves, then tomatoes, onions and eggplant
- season w/ 1 tsp herbes de provence
- sprinkle pecorino romano (grated) evenly over toppings
- season w/ ground black peppercorns