Eggplant Fesenjan Pizza
Vegetarian fesenjan (with walnuts & sumac), roasted eggplant, pomegranates, fried noodles, parsley & mascarpone
Fesenjan is a Persian dish that is typically made as a chicken stew with walnuts and pomegranates, but we found a recipe a while back that made a vegetarian version with eggplant, and it is supremely delicious. We actually make a version of this sauce every couple of weeks because it's so easy to do—we let it cook down to an even thicker, pastier consistency and just eat it plain on toast. The result is a texture and appearance that's kind of similar to ground beef, and the walnuts somehow make it taste almost meaty as well. For this pizza, though, we'll be keeping it on the slightly saucier side, because it provides the perfect tangy, rich base for the eggplant and creamy mascarpone.
Recipe
Ingredients:
1 ball of pizza dough
flour for dusting
semolina flour for pizza stone
olive oil
salt & pepper
~1/2 cup mascarpone
handful of pomegranate seeds
a few pinches of roughly chopped parsley, to garnish
handful of fried noodles
For the sauce:
1 onion, diced
2 cups raw walnuts
2 tablespoons ghee (if you don’t have this you can do a mixture of oil and butter)
1/4 cup plain tomato sauce
3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
1 cup water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon sumac
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 pinch saffron
For the eggplant:
~5 baby eggplants (you can also use a skinny variety like Japanese eggplants and just cut them in half—but if you can find them, these baby ones are the perfect size for putting on a pizza), tops trimmed, halved lengthwise
1 tablespoon sumac
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 400° F. Add your walnuts to a food processor and pulse until they resemble a coarse meal (a bit coarser than a nut flour).
Heat the ghee in a pot over medium heat, then add the onions and sauté until they soften and begin to brown a bit, about 5 minutes. Next, stir in the tomato sauce and sauté for another 2 minutes.
Add the remaining sauce ingredients, along with a teaspoon of salt and a few grinds of fresh cracked pepper and stir to combine. Let the mixture simmer for half an hour or so, stirring every couple of minutes to keep it from burning on the bottom. You’ll see the oils start to draw out of the walnuts, and the entire mixture will start to deepen in color and change consistency. Ultimately you want a thick sauce—not super runny, but not quite to the point of a paste.
While this is cooking, score a crisscross pattern in the cut side of your eggplants with a paring knife. Cut as deeply as you can without reaching the skin.
Mix the remaining eggplant ingredients with a couple tablespoons of olive oil, half a teaspoon of salt and about 3/4 teaspoon of fresh cracked pepper. Pour this mixture over the cut side of your eggplants, rubbing it into the crevices and making sure everything gets coated.
Roast your eggplants on a parchment-lined baking sheet with the cut size up. Keep them in for about 20-25 minutes or so, until the skin is starting to crisp up and the flesh is easily pierced with a fork.
When your eggplants are finished, increase your oven temperature to 550° F, or as hot as it will go. Prepare your dough using the instructions on the right. When your oven is hot and you’ve baked your dough for a minute, take it out and brush it lightly with olive oil.
Spoon a generous amount of your fesenjan sauce onto the pizza, followed by the roasted eggplant and dollops of mascarpone cheese. Scatter a handful of pomegranate seeds and fried noodles on top, and pop it in the oven.
Bake until the crust has reached a nice golden brown, then take it out, sprinkle with fresh parsley, and enjoy!
*This pizza was adapted from an eggplant fesenjan recipe we found on this site.