Sardines Sleeping on Roasted Egglant

I'm feeling romantic.  I didn't want to do a vulgar pan fry paired with potatoes... I wanted the little guys to feel royal before becoming One with me.  Shouldn't it always be that way?
Serves 1 as a meal, 4 as an appetizer
Ingredients:
2 fresh sardines, gutted and cut in half
1 small eggplant, sliced 3mm width
1 large yellow bell, quartered
4 slices of vine tomato (optional)
4 pieces of salad (I would have used romaine or batavia, but all I had was chene)
1 large garlic clove, grated
2 Tbsp EVOO
juice from 1/2 lemon
plenty of fresh cracked pepper
sprinkle paprika
some red pepper flakes
some dried basil
healthy drizzle of top quality basalmic vinegar (dios mio!)
Directions:
 1.  Make your baste.  In a small bowl, mix the garlic, pepper, red pepper flakes, paprika, basil, and lemon juice together.  Brush over the eggplant and quarted bell slices.  Roast in oven on a baking sheet at 190°C for 45 minutes, flipping once.
2.  Brush some of that good stuff on the flesh side of the sardine halves.  Wait until the veggies are finished roasting.
3.  In a hot frying pan, cook the sardine halves skin side down for about 5 minutes until the flesh starts changing color.
4.  Make a bed out of the salad and eggplant slices, drizzle some of that basalmic vinegar that is so good it will make you cry.  Place a sardine half, tuck it in with another slice of eggplant, cover with a quarter of roaste bell, and if you're feeling it, add a slice of tomato.

 

This is just what I needed...