Air Fried Eggplant Prosciutto Pizza

Hello, besties!

I can’t believe I finally got off my ass (do I have to censor that… no, right??) and started a NEW BLOG! I had to say a tearful goodbye to my first blog - memoirs of a chunky skyscraper, later changed to riceandbeansgirl.wixsite, lolz - because it was a mess and I decided it was time to be a big girl and buy a domain. Big spender over here dropping $20 annually for a website (Imagine I put the star eyed emoji after that sentence. Unfortunately, I won’t be using emojis in these posts). 

First things first, this is not a food blog because if I call it that then I have to consistently drop new recipes and unless I’m being paid, that’s not happening. That being said… I am open to paid collabs so please hit my line. Shameless plug, but times are tough! You all understand.

So for my first post I will share with you this super fun eggplant pizza I make on the grill when the weather is not complete garbage. Pizza itself isn’t a hard concept so I guess what really warrants a recipe is the air fried eggplant but whatever. And, before we start, I’m not salting the eggplant slices before using them because that’s entirely too much work just for them to go on top of the pizza. If you want do that step, be my guest, babe. Also, you can make your own pizza sauce (needs to be refrigerated for a few hours so make ahead) or just use one from a jar. Do whatever feels right in your heart, who cares.

What you’ll need:

for the air-fried eggplant 

1 eggplant (cut into 1/4 inch round slices)

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs (but crush them up into smaller bits)

1/2 cup regular breadcrumbs 

2 eggs, beaten tf up

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (i feel like fancy cheese is kind of a waste to use here)

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp paprika 

1/2 tsp dried oregano 

1/2 tsp dried basil 

cooking spray or olive oil 

for the sauce

28 oz crushed tomatoes (i use the cento brand, #notsponsored #wishitwas)

3 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1 heaping tsp of salt 

a few good cracks of black pepper

drizzle of olive oil 

for the rest of the pizza

pizza dough (buy it at the store, your local pizza place, or make it yourself if you’re feeling crazy)

fresh mozzarella (you can use regular mozzarella here if you’re into low moisture cheeses)

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (here you can use parmigiano reggiano and it wouldn’t be a waste of money)

4 slices prosciutto, ripped up into small pieces

fresh basil, roughly chopped (this is for topping ((LOL)) at the end, it’s optional but highly suggested)

Eggplant time, baby!

1. Set your air fryer to 400F

2. In a shallow dish of some kind mix together the panko breadcrumbs, regular breadcrumbs, parm cheese, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, dried oregano, and dried basil. Set up your dredging station in this order - bowl of flour, bowl of beaten eggs, breadcrumb dish/bowl/whatever you used.

3. Dip eggplant slice in the flour and give it a good shake to get the excess flour. Then dip in the eggs, lets the rest of the gross (sorry i hate eggs) egg drip off and then dip in the breadcrumbs. Repeat until you’ve done this for all of the eggplant.

4. Spray eggplant slices with cooking spray or drizzle with olive oil. Place those slices in the air fryer basket and cook for 6 minutes. Flip the slices after 6 minutes and cook for another 7 minutes and then remove from the air fryer. You’re gonna have to work in batches here so repeat for the remaining eggplant.

Let’s Get Saucy

1. Blend your tomatoes, garlic, dried basil, olive oil, black pepper, and dried oregano. Let sit in the fridge for at least 2 hours. That’s literally it.

Pizza assembly, FINALLY 

1. Heat grill to 600F and brush olive oil on the grates. Stretch your dough out into a circle and place on the grill. Cook the dough for 2-3 minutes with the grill uncovered, check periodically to make sure the pizza’s not burning, LOLZ

2. Flip your pizza and get to TOPPING IT!!! This is where it really comes in handy to be organized and have all your toppings ready to go. I’m not going to tell you how to live your life so feel free to top your pizza anyway you’d like but the order I went in is - fresh mozz, eggplant, prosciutto, parmigiano reggiano or regular parm (depending on what you’re using).

3. Cook with the grill covered for 3-5 minutes or until everything is melted. Grab your pizza (using tongs or something, don’t grab it with your hand) and place on a baking sheet and let sit for a hot minute. Top with fresh basil (if you’re not lame) and slice it up and serve.