WICKED BAKED SARDINES

   

These sardines are simple to make and delicious to eat. You can have them as a snack, one or two will be enough; as an entrée with a small salad, or as a main with chips and salad or something else. Serve them with a lemon wedge and you will be eating sardines even though you do not like the tinned ones!

Ingredients

1 small bulb of fennel, with the leaves

1 cup fresh breadcrumbs or panko breadcrumbs

1 handful of lightly toasted pine nuts

1 handful of marjoram, oregano or parsley, leaves only

a little grated parmesan or pecorino (optional)

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

extra virgin olive oil

8 slices of pancetta or cured smoked bacon

8 fresh sardines, scaled, gutted and filleted

8 sprigs of rosemary or toothpicks

Method

Remove the leafy tops and stalk from the fennel. Put the leafy bits to one side and discard the stalks. Halve the fennel bulb, and finely chop with a knife, then put the crumbs into a bowl with the fennel, pine nuts and herbs. Season well and mix in 4 or 5 tablespoons of olive oil.

Preheat oven to 220C. On a clean board, lay out the 1 slice of pancetta. Place a sardine fillet, skin-side down, across it at right angles. Sprinkle the sardine with some of the breadcrumb mix and place another sardine, skin-side up, on top of it.

Sprinkle with a bit more of breadcrumb mix.

Then, tightly wrap the pancetta around it and spike with a rosemary twig or a toothpick. Repeat until you get 8 small sardine sandwiches. Lay them on oiled greaseproof paper in a roasting tray.

Roast at the top of the preheated oven for 8 minutes or until the bacon and breadcrumbs are crisp.

Serve with a little rocket salad, a wedge of lemon, and sprinkle with the green fennel tops. 

Serves 4

Here served with Roasted new potatoes with rosemary & lemon and Spinach Catalan style.