Small

Pan Fried Sardines

2 May 2019

ingredients

Olive Oil

Flour

Sardines, cleaned, gutted and scaled – heads can stay on or be removed

Salt

Red Wine Vinegar

Mint – optional garnish

equipment

Kitchen Towel ; Kitchen plate ;Board or clean plate for the cooked fish ;Fry pan; Tongs or 2 forks; Serving plate

method

Step 1

Lay the raw, cleaned sardines on a piece of clean disposable kitchen towel and pat dry before cooking

Step 2

Prepare a plate of flour for the sardines and keep this close to the stove

Arrange some clean kitchen towel on a board next to the pan, to place the cooked sardines onto, to drain before eating

Step 3

Heat a frypan over moderate heat:

Generously cover the base of the fry pan with olive oil (about 5mm). You want the sardines to be at least half covered in oil while in the pan. Don’t use a great big pan unless you are cooking for a lot of people – the bigger the pan the more oil you will need and you cannot really reuse it.

Bring the oil temperature to 185C+. If you do not have a thermometer, dangle one end of the sardine into the oil – if it does not sizzle, the oil is not yet hot enough and you will end up with soggy rather than crispy sardines.

Step 4

While the oil is heating, drag a sardine fillet through the flour, shake the excess flour off and one by one – as soon as the oil is hot enough, gently drop each one into the hot oil.

Do not crowd the pan – they only take a minute.

Cook rapidly in the oil, turning once with a pair of good tongs or use 2 forks.

Step 5

Place the cooked fish on the kitchen towel, sprinkle with salt , a little red wine vinegar and garnish with chopped fresh mint.

source

Recipe by Elizabeth Peddey

Acknowledgements: Patience Gray, Honey from a Weed; Claudia Roden, Mediterranean Cookery