A new Italian restaurant opened in Charleston a couple of months ago, and I had dinner there yet again last night, and again, it was fabulous! I was there with some girhttp://thesouthwillrise.com/wp-admin/post-new.phplfriends, and we started out with the butter bean puree, Castelvetrano olives and the 24-month aged American Iberico prosciutto. All of it was amazing- especially the prosciutto. We also had the pork trotters which is one of my favorites on the menu, and all I can say about them is they are ridiculous. We were talking with one of the owners who came over to say hello (did I mention how amazing the service is??) and he was saying that it used to be a restaurant needed to specify if it was a Northern Italian or Southern Italian restaurant, but that Indaco didn’t do that. They just put really good food on the menu. I really love that sentiment. Instead of trying to cater to a certain theme, its just really good food. I mean really good! We then had several of the pizzas and the eggplant lasagnette. The pizzas are to die for, and while I did not think that I enjoyed eggplant, it turns out I do- amazing. One of the pizzas we had was and eggplant pizza with tomato, ricotta, buffalo mozzerella and grana padano. It was truly delicious. So, here is a recipe I found for easy eggplant pizza, and while it won’t be as good as Indaco (only because I don’t have a wood fire pizza oven- ha) it will tide me over til the next time I find a reason to go to my new favorite place! (The picture is from the Indaco website www.indacocharleston.com of one of the pizzas.)
Eggplant Pizza
Ingredients:
1 eggplant, sliced
1/2 cup pizza sauce
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
2 tsp olive oil for brushing
toppings as needed
Directions:
Slice the eggplant and sprinkle with some salt on each side. Set aside for thirty minutes, then rinse and pat dry. This will take some of the bitterness out of the eggplant, especially if you’re using a larger/older fruit.
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Brush each side of the eggplant slices with olive oil, then sprinkle both sides 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper. Place the eggplants on a cooling rack that’s on a baking sheet, and bake until they are softened and a little brown, about six minutes.
Spoon the tomato sauce on the eggplant slices, then add the cheese and toppings.
Return the baking sheet to the oven and bake for another five minutes, until the cheese is melted. Go ahead and broil it for a minute if you’d like some extra crispy toppings.
