Low-carb pizza eggplant

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 40 g butter
• 250 ml tomatoes, pureed
• 100 g ham, cooked
• 100 g paprika sausage (paprika salami), hot
• 250 g medium-aged Gouda
• 100 g mushrooms
• Pizza seasoning or oregano
• salt and pepper
• Paprika powder
• 8 eggplants, each approx. 250 g

Instructions

Working time approx. 50 minutes; Rest time approx. 1 hour; Cooking/baking time approx. 25 minutes; Total time approx. 2 hours 15 minutes

for 16 pieces

Wash the eggplants, pat dry, and remove the stems; do not peel them. Cut each eggplant into 5 slices, ideally using an electric food slicer. Set the 3 middle slices aside for another use. Sprinkle the cut surface of the two outer slices, which are slightly bulbous, with salt and let stand, covered, for at least 1 hour. Do not dry the moist eggplants; place them cut-side down on a baking tray. Pour in 100 ml of water and bake in a preheated oven at 200°C (convection oven) for about 20 minutes. Once the water has evaporated after 10 minutes, add another 100 ml of water if necessary. Remove the eggplants from the oven and let them cool slightly. Line the tray with baking paper and place the eggplants, skin-side down, close together on the tray. Melt the butter and pour it into a large bowl. Mix with the passata. Cut the ham, paprika salami, and mushrooms into small cubes and add them. Finely grate the cheese and mix in about 200g of it. Season the mixture with pizza seasoning or other seasonings as desired. If the pizza mixture is too runny, add a little more grated cheese. Spread about 50g of the pizza mixture on each eggplant and bake in the oven at 180-200°C (convection oven) for about 25 minutes. The pizza mixture can, of course, also be prepared with other ingredients, such as tuna, onions, olives, whatever you like on your pizza. However, the amount of cheese is necessary for binding, otherwise the mixture will run too much during baking. The medium eggplant slices that remain here can also be salted, patted dry, brushed with herb oil, and fried until golden brown or placed on the grill. I haven’t tried whether the medium slices also work as pizza eggplant. I thought that the edge slices with the shell would be better because they are firmer and don’t fall apart.