Delicious Eggplant Tower with Pesto, Mozzarella, and Tomatoes

One of my favorite things to make recently has been this little creation that contains sliced eggplant covered in pesto with a tomato slice and mozzarella on top. This tower is perfect on top of a salad with a little balsamic vinegar and olive oil or on top of grains like quinoa with a soy sauce dressing. Since I am a vegetarian I like the heartiness of the eggplant with the fresh tomato on top. Not to mention this recipe takes only approximatly 25 minutes!

Ingredients (serves ~4)
2 eggplant
2 tomatoes (any kind will do, in the pictures I used a yellow Brandywine heirloom tomato)
1 fresh buffalo mozzarella
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 tbsp pesto
1 pepper sliced
1/2 Onion sliced
Balsamic vinegar*
More evoo*
Lettuce*

Recipe

1.      Preheat the oven to 400^o F

2.      Slice the eggplant into ½” to 1” thick slices. Slice the tomato and mozzarella into ½” slices.

3.      Place the eggplant in a glass oven container similar to the one shown in the picture below. The size depends on the quantity of towers created

4.      Put a little bit of the olive oil on each eggplant slice, spread across entire eggplant

5.      Place a ½ tbsp of pesto (or more if so desired) on top of the olive oil on each eggplant slice

6.      Top the pesto with one slice of the mozzarella then one slice of the tomato

7.      Top the tomato with the sliced peppers and onions (or you can place onion slices between each layer to add extra flavor)

8.      Cook the towers in the oven for approximately 10 minutes; then change the setting on the oven to broil

9.      Broil the food for approximately 3 minutes, just long enough so that the mozzarella begins to melt (as you can see in the following picture)

10.      After this take the towers out and place them on a bed of lettuce or grains or eat by themselves

11.      For my example I sliced up the remaining tomato and pepper, added sprouts, lettuce. Then I drizzled a little balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil on top. Delicious!