500 g rainbow trout fillet
300 g melting Spressa cheese
20 g smoked provola cheese
2 round purple eggplants, sliced to 5 mm thickness
2 cloves of garlic, minced
250 g ripe Piccadilly tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1 vegetable stock cube
60 g walnut kernels
Garda extra virgin olive oil
Basil
Fresh chili pepper
Difficulty: medium
METHOD
Gently sauté 100 cc of extra virgin olive oil in a pan with two minced garlic cloves. Then add diced tomatoes and a bit of chili pepper, season with crumbled stock cube, and cook for 10 minutes to thicken the sauce without overcooking the tomatoes. Set the sauce aside.
Blend the walnuts with basil and extra virgin olive oil (previously chilled in the freezer for a while), then season with salt, pepper, and a hint of garlic to obtain a light pesto. Slice the eggplants and use a round cutter to make uniform discs. From the eggplant scraps, cut thin strips, flour them, and fry them at the last moment to decorate the dish. Use the same round cutter to shape the slices of spressa and scamorza cheeses. Finely chop the remaining trimmings with a knife.
Slice the trout fillets and even out their thickness to match that of the eggplant using a meat mallet and two sheets of parchment paper. Trim to obtain discs similar in size to the previous ones.
Grease the fish slightly and quickly sear it in a hot pan to caramelize its surface. Repeat the same process with the slices of eggplant.
Finally, assemble the cakes by alternating the ingredients, starting and finishing with a slice of eggplant. Season each layer with torn basil leaves and some of the chopped mixture from the various preparations. Cover the cake with a thin slice of smoked provola cheese and finish with a spoonful of tomato sauce. Bake in the oven at 200°C (392°F) for 15 minutes and remove when the cheese melts. Just before serving, complete the cake with light pesto and a sprig of fresh basil. Garnish with fried eggplant strips.
