Okay, so roast it, poach it, boil it, poele it, microwave it. It doesn't matter. The idea is just to test the skin. Oh, i thought you meant that steamed eggplant skin is tough.
I wasn't suggesting eggplant with the pasta, I was suggesting it instead of the pasta;Yeah, i got that, but not a fan of stuff in tomato sauce, but you gave me the idea of putting it with pasta, of the same shape and size. or if you prefer, as the pasta. Eggplant with the pasta, I know you have covered.
You're talking pasta 1/2" in diameter and you're willing about getting extra flavor into the meat of the vegetable? For why? Whuffo? The sauce should carry enough flavor with each bite to take care of it.well, if the sauce (which in this case i mentioned wouldn't involve tomato, so there would be little substance to flavor each bite) doesn;t permeate the eggplant (aqnd if the eggplant stays in its skin and doesn't permeate the sauce), you get pieces of something in garlic flavored oil.
As to Asian... I'm very fond of small eggplant in black bean sauce with lots of garlic and chilli. Also, if you can get your hands on "chili garlic" sauce you could use that instead of black bean sauce. now i remember why i rarely cook any asian cuisine - ingredients are hard to find. And raises questions like what is black bean sauce in italian? and the few stores that carry asian ingredients are frequented almost exclusively by the asians themselves, so they often don't have the translated label on the jar, though technically they;re supposed to. But since i live on the edge of what has become chinatown, I'll take a look. (I take it that chili garlic is not going to be equivalent to chili and garlic, right?) Cut the eggplant into bite size pieces, wok them in hot oil until tender, remove them. Stir fry the usual aromatics (garlic, scallion, ginger) until you get a nice smell (1 or 2 minutes at most), add a little bit of ground pork and brown it till it breaks up. Then add the sauce, some broth, some soy sauce, a healthy splash of sherry (or madeira) if you can't get Chinese cooking wine, some corn starch slurry -- you know the drill -- cook it down until the starch starts to set up the sauce. Return the eggplant to the wok, tossing it for a minute to get it hot. Then turn out and serve. If you want to cut down on the oiliness, par boil the eggplant for a minute before wokking. Ok, i'll try that if i can find the ingredients. Or fool around with it to adapt.
You could also do the eggplant in any number of Indo/Pak ways. Look for "brinjal" recipes on the net if you don't have a lot of "curry" techniques already.
I think that diameter begs for breading, deep frying and service with "dipping sauces," like aioli, salsa verdes, chimichurri, even a "nacho cheese" fondue. You could do a nice breading mixing flour, polenta and bread crumbs in one ratio or another.ok, but when i deep fry breaded eggplant, the skin usually rejects the batter and it only adheres to the cut surfaces.
BDL