This morning we woke up to more snow. Spring is just dribbling in very slowly. We also awoke to the horrible news of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan. It’s been a rather solemn day with little inspiration.
Last night maybe there was a vibration in the air of some uncontrollable pending disaster. I haven’t had wheat products for nearly two weeks. Last night I caved. I was feeling the need for comfort food. You only have to mention pizza to my husband. Ice cream is probably my comfort food, sometimes bread. Pizza is his. The dough part would suffice for me. It also got me out of cooking which I’m thankful for. We discussed making pizza, but there was no cheese in the house, so we ordered out. I totally ignored the wheat ban and the calorie counting that I’ve been doing for some time. I had no guilt. Perhaps it was that vibration in the air that said, go ahead.
I found comfort in the pizza, but mostly in being with and enjoying it with my husband.
Other times, though, we thoroughly enjoy making pizza together. I’m more or less the assistant in this process. Here is one of our many pizza versions – vegetarian.
Red Pepper & Eggplant Pizza
1 eggplant, diced
1 red pepper, diced
Pre-made pizza base – We used Weisenberger’s (mix made in KY)
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 1 ball fresh mozzarella, diced, or shredded mozzarella
- Fresh basil leaves
- Pinch dried oregano
- Balsamic vinegar
- Salt, pepper, olive oil
- Parmesan Cheese
- Heat a little oil a pan and fry together the garlic and onion to soften.
- When browned add the eggplant and red pepper, toss together in the oil and garlic, add a touch of balsamic, season and cover for 10 – 15 minutes on a low heat so that all the vegetables are nice and soft.
- Spread mozzarella cheese on crust. I pre-heat the crust. Spread your vegetables evenly on the mozzarella. Add some extra cheese on top of veggies. Add oregano. I also grate some Parmesan on top. Add fresh herbs on top (I used cilantro on this pizza.)
- Drizzle with olive oil and give it a good grinding of black pepper. Hot oven (450), 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted and gone a lovely golden color in places.
- May decorate with fresh basil leaves. Cut and serve!
May you find comfort today, especially with your loved ones.
J. Schlenker 
Sometimes comfort is more important than calories. Today was definitely one of those days.
Thank you so much for sharing this with us. We all need to be comforted at this point in time. I’ll give you a personal apology right now that my food blog has otherwise turned into a “the latest on Japan” blog for the time being.