Almost any dish you can think of can be adapted for pizza, including the Greek national dish with its rich, creamy lamb and eggplant. This pizza – and this moussaka – are far from traditional, but every tradition starts as a creative idea.

A note on working with eggplant. I’m often dismayed by the unnecessary and time consuming strategies for preparing eggplant. There is no bitter liquid that needs to be removed by salting, nor is it necessary to achieve a tender, pleasing result. The reason behind salting eggplant is that it breaks down the porous structure so that it doesn’t absorb oil and becomes greasy when you sauté it. The best way to avoid this is just not to sauté it. Instead, eggplant should be roasted or steamed whole, or sliced. Also, the skin helps hold it together and is perfectly delicious and nutritious, so save yourself the extra step and leave it intact.