#pizzathon

Today, pizza goes square.

It also looks suspiciously like bruschetta.

It may not be round, contain cheese or have tomatoes (all required as per the google definition of pizza) but, by jove, it has inarguable Italian origins so I am granting it honourary pizza status. Plus it is delicious, and really, that is all that anyone wants. 

Using The Force i.e. the sandwich press turns a 10 minute recipe into a 5 minute one - does it get any better than this?!

I used this recipe by Jamie Oliver but I cut the oil riiiiight down (I only want enough to absorb fat-soluble vitamins, no more thank you!) I thinly sliced 1 eggplant and went for 1 tablespoon of lemon-spiked olive oil with 3/8ths of a tablespoon of vinegar. I omitted the salt, stuck with the pepper and garlic clove and went hard on the parsley and mint. Served on Vogels!

So, call me crazy but I think I’ve just decided to embark on a pizza-thon. Is this the best thought I have ever had? In a word, yes. I JUST LOVE PIZZA. There has to be room for it in a healthy life.

Up first is round one of The Breakfast Pizza. Enjoy in your bed for ultimate happiness.

Toast 2 mini wholemeal pita breads in the toaster. If you’re feeling particularly awesome, roast up some garlic cloves and then spread on the inside of the pitas for an anti-vampire base. But that takes time so if you’re short on it, SKIP. It is the morning, afterall, you want to avoid peaking too early in productivity because where would that leave you for the rest of the day???

Anyway, I digress. Heat a mini frying pan on a low heat, crack in an egg and leave to go sunnyside up. Chop up about 1/2 cup of roasted vegetables into tiny pieces in the meantime. By now the pitas should be done so whip them out of the toaster and spread with some tasty but healthy topping. I went for a thin slice of avocado on one and a smear of hummus on the other. The pitas might have gone puffy in the toaster - this only increases the awesomeness so don’t let that phase you. Top with the vege bites making sure you leave an edge of the topping around the outside à la ultimate pizza tradition.

Check your egg - has the white gone all opaque (that means you can’t see through it anymore) and it looks set? Good. Ease it out of the pan onto a chopping board and crack the next egg in its place. If you break the yolk in this one (like I did), briefly lament its loss of perfection and then move on. It’s 6am in the morning people, you ain’t got time for broken-yolk-induced depression.

Get a small glass with a circular rim and place over the yolk making sure its big enough to capture a bit of the white too. Carefully cut around the cup so that you are left a small round of egg. Place on top of veges on the pita pizza base. Do the same for the other egg when it is cooked and top with freshly cracked black pepper and Italian herbs (it’s a pizza, duh).