The smoothness of eggplant

As a food lover, I fixate; I rarely get bored. It takes a long time for my longings to detach themselves from any one object. This summer, I have made the same recipe at least five times: Deborah Madison's "Eggplant Stew with Tomatoes, Peppers, and Chickpeas."  It's just a dressed-up tomato sauce, and the eggplant sort of disappears, then reappears as this mysterious smoothness to the taste. The paprika and the little bit of burning that usually happens in my cooking give it a smokiness.  And I cook the chick peas almost to mush so it's all very, very soft. It doesn't really need pasta: I'll be eating it as a meal unto itself now for an unbroken string of lunches and dinners.