I love eggplant. And I HATE how much the Internet has ruined what an eggplant represents. For me, I try not to associate it with…body parts. Body parts are body parts, vegetables are vegetables. Just clearing that up now, because I feel like anything who reads “spicy eggplant” will have thoughts. Or even just “eggplant”. I used to not like eggplant as a kid, because it was at times slimy and bitter, but as I got older, I started to really appreciate it more. In college, I accidentally burnt my eggplant, and it was a happy mistake – the exterior got crispy and the interior was soft and creamy, almost like the hard sear helped steam the flesh. My biggest tip with cooking eggplant is to marinate it with oil, in this case, we are using rendered beef tallow, just because cooking it with a decent amount of oil helps that heat really permeate it, ensuring that creamy texture and almost smoky, charred flavor. In the case of this specific recipe, I wanted to pair the eggplant with an umami-forward, spicy sauce. While I can eat charred eggplant on its own, it is a neutral sponge and can be used in stews or curries nicely as a way to contrast things with bolder or more dominant flavors. So I figured, doing like a bolognese-type tomato sauce with a ton of chilis and black bean paste for that savory funk would be a great way to make the eggplant taste better. With a bolognese, pasta of some kind made perfect sense. Since I purchased a pasta extruder recently, I figured I would do some kind of long noodle. Originally, I was going to do fusilli(coiled pasta), but I actually didn’t own the fusilli attachment. So instead, I figured, why not try doing penne? But not just regular penne, but longer penne noodles. I can tell you, there is a reason long penne isn’t a thing. The noodles were too thick to eat with a fork(a good chopstick noodle though in the same way udon was), so I would say fusilli or bucatini would be more preferable pasta shapes for this recipe. And I will say that this ragu, freaking delicious. The spicy beef, tomato, and eggplant combination is one I’m going to be doing again and again and again, because it is honestly near-perfect. I would probably do a revision of this recipe in the future, using either bucatini or fusilli, and using lamb instead of beef – I can see the gameyness of the lamb pairing gorgeously with the spice levels. If you like spicy tomato pasta and bolognese but maybe feel lukewarm towards eggplant, this is the dish that can convert anyone into loving eggplant as much as I do.

For the eggplant ragu:
8oz ground beef
2 tbsp chili flakes
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground oregano
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced finely
1 Japanese eggplant, cut into 1/4 inch-thick half moons
a pinch of salt
5oz tomato paste
1 tbsp fermented black bean paste
1/2 cup beef stock
2 green onions, minced

In a pan, brown off the ground beef, chili flakes, cumin, oregano, garlic. Remove the beef from the pan, and with the rendered fat, toss that in a bowl with the eggplant and salt. Sear off the eggplant in the pan for 3-4 minutes on both sides on medium-high heat. Remove the eggplant from the pan, and stir in the tomato paste, bean paste, and stock until combined on medium heat until they come up to a simmer, before adding back the ground beef first, then the eggplant. Finish with the green onions and the cooked pasta.

For the pasta dough:
150g semolina flour
50g water
a pinch of salt

In a bowl, mix everything together until combined into a dough. Place into a pasta extruder with a penne or bucatini attachment, and extrude the dough into noodles that are 6 inches in length.

In heavily salted water, boil the noodles for 30 seconds. Finish the pasta in the sauce.