For those of you that find the skin of the egg plant too tough, simply julienne the skin of egg plants before baking them using a julienne peeler (my favorite is made by Messermeister).

Now take the skin strips and dice them up, season them and fry or bake them (why fry when you have a terrific oven at your disposal?). Sprinkle over the casserole when serving for an added layer of flavor. This technique also works very well with cucumbers or zucchini.

So what you have done is make a dish more pleasurable to eat while still being able to enjoy the nutritional value of the skin in a more palatable fashion.