Eel Panada

Preparation:

Preparation: Pour the lard 1/2 glass of warm water and a pinch of salt into a bowl; incorporate a lot of flour to obtain a rather soft dough. Work it with a wooden spoon with a certain energy and then handle it lightly with your fingertips until it is smooth and homogeneous. Gather it into a ball, cover it with a damp cloth and put it in the fridge for about 1 hour. Rub the eels with plenty of coarse salt, rinse them under running water, remove the innards, remove and throw away the head, cut them into slices of about 10 cm and place them in a bowl. On the chopping board, chop the 4 dried tomatoes, the bunch of parsley, the 1/2 clove of garlic; dilute the pesto with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and pour it over the eels. Stir well so that the sauce is evenly distributed over the fish and do not add salt as the salt contained in the sun-dried tomatoes is sufficient. At this point, remove the dough from the fridge, divide it into 2 pieces, one of which is 1/4 of the other, and roll them out with a rolling pin in the shape of a disc. Lift the largest disc holding it with clenched fists so as not to tear it, make it adhere to the bottom and edges of a cake tin with a diameter of about 20 cm. Place half of the eels in the center of the disc and arrange the remainder in a pyramid shape, drizzle with a drop of oil and place the small disc of pasta on the top of the mound of eels. Remove the end of the large disc from the edges of the pan, collect it forming 4 folds and let the pastry adhere to the mound of eels; match the edges of the 2 discs, join them by squeezing them between the tips of the thumb and forefinger and form a string along the entire circumference of the 2 joined sheets. This will result in a hermetically sealed envelope that is wide at the base and narrow at the top, roughly resembling a truncated cone. If everything is a little lumpy, the shape can be corrected with a few appropriate pats with open hands and proceeding as if a bundle contained in a handkerchief tied by the nocks were to be well arranged. This way the panada will be perfect and ready to be cooked. It should be placed in the oven at medium heat (180 degrees) and left there for about 2 hours; it should be enjoyed hot, but if you need to reheat it, just put it back in the cold oven, light the flame, wait for it to be hot and remove the panada.