As soon as the clocks go forward my diet seems to switch to a Mediterranean-style one - I usually eat late anyway - with a very heavy emphasis on "burnt" meats and salads, accompanied by potatoes or rice, and frequently both. I love fish also, but this is not a dish I would attempt in company because boning sardines after they're cooked is such a messy, inelegant business. I picked up the sardines - or were they pilchards masquerading as sardines - from the reduced bin in Tesco: 71p for 6, which is incredibly cheap for 2 meals. I suppose some people are squeamish about gutting fish - I was, once upon a time - but, now, like boning meat, it is almost second nature. I did find my cat in the kitchen sink, apparently licking it after I'd rinsed the fish, but heigh-ho!
For the marinade:
Mix together about 50ml of olive oil, 2 tsp crushed garlic, 1 tsp lemon juice and 1 tsp rock salt - I'm not normally precious about different varieties of salt but I do think this made a big contribution to the final taste. Be sure to open up the fish and rub the marinade inside for best results. Leave for a couple of hours, turning once.
Cooking:
To get the desired texture I griddled AND grilled the fish - started off on a smoking hot ridged griddle pan, turned once after a few minutes, then putting the pan under a pre-heated grill for a few more minutes on each side. If I was a bit more dextrous I would be able to able to take off the head and backbone with a knife and fork - I used my fingers!
Accompaniments:
The salad was the usual suspects: lettuce and baby spinach, peppers, cherry tomatoes, red onions, stuffed green olives, a few cooked chickpeas and sliced courgette which I use in winter salads in place of cucumber.
Potato purists will probably be shrieking in the streets at the way I cook mine - scrubbed and thinly sliced, then microwaved in a closed casserole dish for about 3 minutes. To me, it's the equivalent of steaming, so the surface of the potatoes don't get mushy. Rinse, dip in the marinade and then fry in a hot wok. I also had plain boiled basmati rice.
Potato purists will probably be shrieking in the streets at the way I cook mine - scrubbed and thinly sliced, then microwaved in a closed casserole dish for about 3 minutes. To me, it's the equivalent of steaming, so the surface of the potatoes don't get mushy. Rinse, dip in the marinade and then fry in a hot wok. I also had plain boiled basmati rice.
Postscript:
After I got back from the pub I finished the marinade off by dipping crusty bread in it - delicious!
