The recipe for the Rotonda Red Aubergine cake by chef Peppe De Marco, the pleasure of Lucanian tradition and wholesomeness

Imported by soldiers returning from the colonial wars in Africa, they have a more bitter and exotic taste than common aubergines. The leaves are also prepared in batter and then fried. Having become part of the Slow Food Presidia, it is rich in mineral salts, especially potassium, phosphorus and calcium. It has a high antioxidant power, able to counteract the effects of free radicals harmful to cell walls and cell aging.

It is traditionally eaten in oil or in vinegar, but in contemporary cuisine it is proposed in the most varied forms: sweet and sour, jam, fried and even in a version for the end of a meal such as liqueur and chocolates: the possibilities for cooking a real and its own rarity unknown even to gourmets. It is the Rotonda Red Eggplant, small and rounded like an apple, of an intense orange color with greenish and reddish hues. More than an aubergine it may look like a persimmon or a tomato. It is no coincidence that in the local dialect it is called "merlingiana a pummadora".

The scientific name of this eggplant (Solanum aethiopicum) says a lot about its history. A Rotonda (Rutunna in the local dialect) Italian town of 3000 inhabitants in the province of Potenza in Basilicata, seat of the Pollino National Park, it probably came from Africa, perhaps imported by some soldiers returning from the colonial wars. Unknown elsewhere, it is a rustic plant grown in all the gardens of the district, it has a more bitter and exotic taste than the common aubergines. The seedlings are planted in May and the first harvest takes place in August to continue until the first cold weather. In ancient times, the small aubergines were "nzertate", that is, tied in bunches as is done for peppers and cherry tomatoes, and then left to dry under sheds.

also the leaves are used in the culinary tradition of Rotonda. Tender, different from those of the common aubergine in shape and size, they are usually prepared in batter and then fried. The pulp is fleshy, it does not blacken even several hours after being cut; the scent is intense, fruity enough to recall the prickly pear. After a period in which it risked being forgotten, since 2007 the red aubergine of Rotonda (Basilicata) has been recognized as a Slow Food Presidium.

It has been for a few years joined the Slow Food Presidia, supported by ALSIA (Lucana Agency for Development and Innovation in Agriculture), with the aim of making it known outside the local market to find an adequate commercial outlet. If until the 2010s in fact around 80 quintals were produced annually, thanks to the DOP protection brands and the Slow Food Presidium, today we have come to produce over 300 quintals.

Versatile in the kitchen, tasty, the Rotonda red aubergine with its low caloric intake (only 18 calories per 100 grams of product) and itsicca quantity of water, mineral salts, especially potassium, phosphorus and calcium, represents an excellent food with remarkable beneficial properties for the human body. It is best known for the high antioxidant power, able to counteract the effects of free radicals dlong-standing for cell walls and cellular aging. Some studies have shown that the substances that give it a bitter taste have important protective functions towards the organism. These substances are represented by organic compounds that stimulate the production of bile by the liver which also contribute thanks to the presence of dietary fiber, to reduce the rate of bad LDL cholesterol in the blood, enemy number one of vessels, arteries and heart.

A curiosity: in Africa, the Nigerian population of the Igbos traditionally continues to welcome visitors into their homes, offering them these fruits, usually accompanied by spicy peanut butter, kola nut and melegueta pepper seeds.

In the heart of Rotonda since 1980 there is the Da Pepp restaurantand, about 70 family-run places, which has made the elegy of all the gastronomic traditions of the area its raison d'être. Aspect widely emphasized by Michelin Guide inspectors: In the historic center of the village in the Pollino park, at the stove of this historic restaurant there is only one imperative: to rediscover the flavors of Lucan cuisine!”

Peppe De Marco, its creator, is in the kitchen while his daughters Flavia and Antonella manage the dining room. Sergio Armentano, Flavia's boyfriend, has been helping him in the kitchen for about five years. Obviously the red aubergine here is a real cult to the point that the De Marco family has put up an information site on the red aubergine and is also the promoter of a festival dedicated to the product, which has been held for about 10 years on 25 August and involves the whole community. The restaurant is also one of the Italian taverns of Basilicata awarded with the Chioccola Slow Food. And obviously one of the signature dishes of the restaurant is the Rotonda red aubergine cake

The recipe for Rotonda red aubergine cake

Ingredients for 10 people:

5 medium-sized Rotonda aubergines;

500 g of fresh ricotta;

250 g. of sugar;

450 g. of Shortbread biscuits;

1 lemon;

2 tablespoons of Moscato di Saracena;

20 g. of chocolate chips;

salt;

extra virgin olive oil

mint leaves to taste

Preparation:

Pass the biscuits in the food processor with a drizzle of oil and to prepare

the base of the cake. Arrange half of the mixture thus obtained on the bottom of a cake tin.

Slice 2 aubergines into disks and 3 into cubes. Flambé in a pan

with sugar (100 gr.), lemon peel and moscato. Then let it cool.

In a bowl, incorporate the aubergine cubes into the ricotta adding the

remaining sugar and the chocolate drops, almost until you get a compact cream.

Place the cream on the previously prepared biscuit base and cover everything with the remaining biscuit mixture. Decorate the dessert by arranging the aubergine slices on the edges and a few mint leaves around the plate.