Eggplant and Olive Tapenade Pizza

This recipe for Eggplant and Olive Tapenade Pizza was born out of one of those empty the fridge nights, but it was so good we’ve made it over and over since then.

Last week I finally shared my Perfect Pizza Dough recipe with you guys and several of you have let me know you loved it (I love getting messages like that!). This week, I want to share one of my favorite ways to top my pizza dough: roasted eggplant and olive tapenade. Tapenade is a French puree of olives, capers, anchovies, and olive oil. I first came across it as a topping for traditional New Orleans muffaletta sandwiches when I was growing up. My mom would take us to the local deli on special lunch occasions and we would get one giant, round muffaletta (they’re about 9 inches in diameter), an order from the salad bar, and we’d each pick a Clearly Canadian sparkling fruit soda (anyone else remember those?). The three of us would split it, and if my sister and I behaved, we would get some of the free soft-serve ice cream before we left. 

Muffaletta tapenade (or olive salad as they often call it) is not quite “traditional” Provençal tapenade, because it usually has celery, cauliflower, and carrot in addition to the olives, but it was certainly enough to get me addicted. Buying a jar of tapenade is usually quite expensive, but after I looked up the ingredients I realized it was really easy to make with a little food processor or blender. I just grabbed a variety of olives from my fridge (Kalamata, green stuffed with anchovies, and black) some olive oil, and a bit of lemon juice and ran them for a whirl in my food processor. 

The eggplant was one I had bought on sale thinking I’d make some eggplant Parmesan. I left it in my fridge a bit too long and it started turning soft and slightly brown, so I decided to roast it instead. The best part about roasting the eggplant for pizza is that it goes in at 500 while you’re pre-heating the pizza stone. I sliced the large eggplant in 1/2″ slices, then quartered those leaving nice bite-size wedges. I drizzled the pan with olive oil, tossed them on it and flipped once to give them a nice oil coat, then sprinkled with garlic salt from a grinder I got at Trader Joe’s. It went in the heated oven, was flipped halfway through, then finished up just in time for the crust to go in the oven for a par-bake.

The sauce is a fire-roasted tomato sauce, covered over with some thick, fresh mozzarella slices, topped with the eggplant and a smattering of olive tapenade (okay maybe more than just a smattering…), then baked and topped off with some fresh chopped purple basil from my herb garden.   

Eggplant and Olive Tapenade Pizza

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• Author: Stephanie Powers
• Prep Time: 10
• Cook Time: 20
• Total Time: 30

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Description

Garlic roasted eggplant, a salty mix of olives, and fresh mozzarella take center stage in this favorite pizza.

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Ingredients

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For Garlic Roasted Eggplant

• 1 large eggplant
• 2 teaspoons garlic salt (I use dried, roasted garlic and salt in a grinder)
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil

For Olive Tapenade

• 1 cup assorted, pitted olives (you can find these at a deli counter)
• 1.5 Tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 Tablespoon anchovy paste or 2 anchovies (optional – NOT vegetarian)
• 1.5 teaspoons capers (optional)

For Pizza

• 1/2 recipe of my Perfect Pizza Dough, rolled out on parchment and ready to be baked
• 3/4 cup pizza sauce
• 1 lb fresh mozzarella, sliced
• 1/4 cup olive tapenade (recipe below)
• 1 garlic roasted eggplant (recipe below)
• 8–10 medium leaves fresh purple basil (or regular basil), roughly chopped

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Instructions

For Garlic Roasted Eggplant

1. Put pizza stone in oven (to prep it for the crust) and preheat to 500 degrees.
2. Slice Eggplant in 1/2″ slices, then quarter the slices to form wedges.
3. Spread olive oil on a large baking sheet and roll cut eggplant in oil to coat.
4. Sprinkle with garlic salt.
5. Bake for 10 minutes, flip eggplant slices, then bake for 10 minutes more (20 min total)

For Olive Tapenade

1. While eggplant roasts, combine all tapenade ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend until the mixture becomes a coarse paste. Add extra olive oil if needed.

For Pizza

1. Par-bake crust for 6 minutes at 500 degrees on the pre-heated pizza stone.
2. Remove from oven and top with sauce, mozzarella, roasted eggplant, and olive tapenade.
3. Bake for 6 minutes, remove from oven, and top with rough-chopped basil.

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Notes

• Total Recipe Time assumes you have made the dough ahead of time. If not, include an additional hour of time to make the dough and let it rise.
• Recipe Remix: You will have extra olive tapenade leftover – top some turkey sandwiches, dip pita chips in it, make a muffaletta, mix it into your tuna salad, or stuff it into some boiled eggs.

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Nutrition

• Serving Size: 4

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