Sardines on Greek salad

Mar 25 2008 by Bill Oldfield, The Journal

We don’t buy enough fish and we don’t buy enough oily fish such as mackerel and sardines. But they’re cheap, quick and dead easy to cook and have the added bonus of being good for you. When you buy the sardines from your fishmonger ask for them gutted but left whole. Before cooking, wash them under cold running water and pat dry with kitchen paper. Bones can be an issue, but with smaller sardines they can be crunched up and eaten.

INGREDIENTS

Four sardines

Eight cherry tomatoes – on the vine

Seven or eight centimetres of cucumber -– deseeded and large diced

One red onion – peeled and diced

One handful of pitted black olives

One clove of garlic – peeled and crushed

One handful of fresh basil -– torn

One handful of wild rocket

One handful of red chard

One handful of endive leaves – torn. Only use the yellow inner leaves as outer leaves can be bitter

Olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Walnut-sized knob of butter

Freshly grated Parmesan

Maldon sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Heat a frying pan, add a little olive oil and the cherry tomatoes on their vine. Add a little sea salt and black pepper and fry until the tomatoes colour a little, adding a little balsamic vinegar to sweeten. Remove from the pan but leave it on the heat. Add the butter and a little more olive oil and fry the sardines for two to three minutes each side.

Meanwhile, in a bowl mix the red onion, olives, garlic and leaves and dress with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Pile this onto two plates and sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese. Slide the sardines onto the salad and, snipping the vine in two, place the tomatoes on top.

Recipes are taken from Oldfields Restaurants cookbook, Passion for Real Food, out now and available in good bookshops. For discounted copies contact us on (0191) 370-9595 or go to www.oldfieldsrestaurants.com