Munchie Monday: Air Fryer Eggplant Chips

On Friday I followed the sign to the "American Legion Farmers' Market" and eventually arrived at the correct spot.  It was indoors!  So nice because you never know when rain will be a hazard.  As it happened, I was there about 3:30 in the afternoon.  There were about a dozen "booths" to investigate.  At the very first one I spied some firm plump beautiful eggplants,  not something that has been a big part of our diet.  Ever!  So I made my rounds to all the other tables then circled back.  It was quite the thing to be so popular.  Everyone called out to me as I approached.  People are so friendly...!  As it happened, I was also the only customer in the building at that time.  Nice for me!

Anyway, I chatted with the nice girl about how to cook and use eggplants.  She suggested cutting them into thick rounds and making them the base for tiny pizzas.  What a novel idea!  I thought I would try it.  I did only buy one though since I was pretty sure it would be a hard sell at home, even though Friday is Pizza Day at the ole homestead on Trevino Drive!

Since Dear One likes the pizzas at Aldi, and even though he wanted me to remove the mozzarella from the top which was somewhat fiddle-y, I did bring home what he wanted but then while his was baking, I put the eggplant rounds in the oven to begin cooking.

Once his pizza was cooked I let the eggplant "pizza crusts" cook another 15 minutes in the oven, then transferred them to the air fryer oven where several of them overcooked a bit.  Well, I have never been averse to a little charcoal so I went ahead and ate several.  Dear One was a good sport and ate one bite of one pizza round. (Though pizza round is really a misnomer-there was no pizza sauce nor pizza toppings on the eggplant...just seasonings...)

These eggplant rounds were cooked at 400 degrees F. for a total of about 40 minutes.  They had been spritzed with a tiny bit of olive oil spray then sprinkled with onion, garlic, black pepper, cumin, and a tiny bit of sea salt.  They did not taste half bad.  They still were not crispy, which is what I was hoping for.

In this photo they have just been lollygagging in the air fryer for about 10 minutes...maybe a little too much!

Actually, in this picture they are in pretty good shape...this was after the first five minutes. Still not crispy enough for me. The picture with the dill pickle slices and tomato on a Beyond Burger burger had the full ten minutes.  You can see the char there a bit better. 

By the way, that lettuce was from our own garden!  There is nothing like harvesting delicious greens from your own back deck early in January.  Love it.