Roasted Japanese Eggplant With Crushed Tomato, Pecorino and Thyme

I feel like the peeling might be more important if you are using conventional eggplant. I grew up in Phoenix, my parents still live there and am still a semi-regular at Bianco joints (his mom and my mom are church friends!). He usually doesn't peel his eggplant, but he also is sort of a greenmarket savant, and gets the best produce. So if you feel confident in your eggplant, you probably can get away with not peeling it.

This is my new favorite eggplant recipe! I use any kind of eggplant, but do not peel it. I add some granulated garlic, salt, pepper, and a little lemon juice to olive oil and dip the slices into that before roasting. I line a roasting pan with aluminum foil, coated with olive oil, roast for 10 minutes, turn over and roast another 10 minutes, then fold the foil over the slices to cool. I love using shaved Parmesan Reggiano and cooking longer and lower temp to caramelize the final step.

This very similar to a dish my mama and I have done for years except that we add roasted red peppers and use a dash o oregano in place of thyme. We generally use it as a side and it's good served room temp as well as hot, maybe better IMO; and I love it in a sandwich using a crusty roll. To peel or not to peel an eggplant. I think it depends on its freshness; picked right off the plant in my garden the skin is tender and I don't peel.