Emboldened by the success of the smelt cook a few weeks ago, Dan headed to the fish counter at Healthy Living after a product delivery to the Burlington area to choose something for supper. Thin-cut swordfish? (me) No, 'swordfish is so '80's'. Tuna? No. Halibut? Sole? Trout? Scallops? Sardines? Yes, sardines!
I've never had this fish before, and found out they could be stuffed, grilled or fried. Read more about sardines here. I briefly thought about stuffing, but instead decided to fry, in order to find out what the fish was supposed to taste like before gussying them up with other flavors. With a cold advisory every night this week, I wasn't going to stand out by the grill, either.
There are only 4 in a package, so we didn't go wild or anything.
(They ARE looking at me.)***Here's where I realized that they weren't completely scaled or even gutted. I've never cleaned fish before, and I have a thing about getting scales stuck all over myself. If I can kill a crustacean, I can tackle this - how difficult could it be?
It's not hard to clean small fish, but it's not any fun, either. I boned one out just for the exercise. There are many, many tiny, tiny hair bones in this fish - think: anchovies. Here's the link that showed me how to do it.
Salt, green pepper, then coated in rice flour.
It takes no time at all to pan fry these.
Finished! I think this is a solid appetizer for two, and our resolution to consume more fish and less beef this year has once again been observed. You eat them just like smelt, opening the cooked underside and pulling out the spine and long bones in one piece. The smaller bones are soft and edible, no choking. If you want to see sardines served up, as well as a close-up of the deboning before eating, check out the Venice episode of "No Reservations".
This is an oily fish with a fairly pronounced flavor; there was no difference in moisture level between the boneless fillet and the whole fishes, which makes it very forgiving to cook. I thought it had a pleasant mineral finish, like grey sea salt, but Dan just declared it "delicious".
Smokey cat was curious, but decided it was not for her.
And no, she does not get to eat off "people plates".
