Eggplant Caprese with Balsamic Pesto

I am in love with pestos.  They make everything tastes good.  They can be used for meat, fish, bread, tortillas and on vegetables.  I have posted several uses for pesto.  One is using Healthier Spinach Pesto for a breakfast fare and another one Carrot Green and Kale Balsamic Pesto was spread on roasted carrots. In this post I am featuring another use of the latter pesto, namely, in the preparation of a popular Italian appetizer, caprese.

Pino's Contemporary Italian Restaurant in Pittsburgh, PA features a similar dish in their menu.  The olive oil and balsamic vinegar is usually doused on the eggplant prior to being roasted in the oven.  The use of the Carrot Green and Kale Balsamic Pesto or other pesto which has olive oil and balsamic vinegar already in it shortens the steps involved in the preparation and ensures for the taste of ingredients to be embedded together with the herbs on the eggplant.  Extra olive oil and or balsamic and basil leaves can be added if desired and you do not mind the calories.

Eggplant Caprese with Balsamic Pesto

(Adapted from Shape Magazine)

Ingredients:

• 1 medium eggplant, cut crosswise into 1/2 inch thickness 
• 1 large, firm tomato, cut crosswise into round pieces, 1/2  inch thickness
• Olive oil spray
• kosher salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste
• 8 fresh basil leaves (optional)
• 8 slices fresh, whole milk Mozzarella (4 oz.)
• 2 recipes of Carrot Green and Kale Balsamic Pesto (recipe in this blog post)
• olive oil and balsamic vinegar (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place 8 eggplant slices in a single layer on a baking sheet coated with olive oil or cooking spray.
2. Brush the pesto (see recipe in this blog) on  the eggplant pieces.
3. Bake the eggplant slices for 10 minutes. Turn them over, brush the eggplant with more of the pesto, and bake for another 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
4. Season tomato with salt and pepper.
5. Prepare the eggplant caprese stacks:  Place a slice of cooked eggplant on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray.  On top place a tomato slice, two basil leaves (optional), a slice of mozzarella and finally a second slice of cooked eggplant.  Do the same procedure with the three other stacks.
6. Bake the prepared stacks in the oven for 2 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

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