Polenta Crust Veggie Pizza

Start by preparing your veggies. Slice zucchini and squash into thin disks. Now for the eggplant. First, slice it into thin disks. Then, to draw out extra water, sprinkle each slice with a little salt and place between layers of paper towel with a heavy baking sheet on top. I let it sit like this until my crust is in the oven.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In medium saucepan, combine cornmeal and water. Whisk until well blended. Add milk and garlic salt. Mix well and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly (be sure you reach the bottom of the pan or mixture will start to stick). Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or until mixture is very thick, stirring frequently.

Remove polenta from heat and use a rubber spatula to quickly spread onto a baking sheet lined with a silpat. I tried to make mine as thin as possible since I knew it would be filling and I still had to add toppings.

Bake the ‘crust’ for 10-15 minutes until polenta is set. It will still be “soft” compared to regular pizza crust but it will be solid enough to cut through.

In the meantime, cook your veggies. First, rinse all the salt off of your eggplant and dry thoroughly. Heat 1 Tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and add your slices of eggplant. Cook for about 5 minutes on each side until eggplant softens. Remove eggplant to more layers of paper towel to draw out excess olive oil. Add remaining olive oil to your pan and cook up the zucchini and squash until soft.

Spread 1/2 cup pizza sauce over your polenta crust and top with veggies and cheeses.

Bake for another 5 minutes, or until cheese melts. Remove from oven and let set for about 5-10 minutes before digging in.

Enjoy!