Recipes

Chosen from Using the Plot by Paul Merrett (published by Collins £16.99), his sardines are pan-fried and served with a parsley, lemon, chilli and red onion vinaigrette. Paul writes " The trick with this dish is to open up the fish so that the two fillets lie flat in the pan. (If you don’t feel confident about doing this, ask your fishmonger to prepare the sardines for you.) Cook the sardines quickly over a high heat, preparing the vinaigrette at the same time.
To serve, all you need is sunshine, crusty bread, cold beer and friends."

Serves 4

    3 or 4 good-sized sardines per person
    6 tbsp olive oil
    Juice and zest of 1 lemon
    2 hot red chillies, finely chopped
    1 garlic clove, finely chopped
    2 red onions, finely diced
    1 tbsp coarsely chopped flat parsley
    4 tbsp plain flour
    4 tsp paprika
    Salt and pepper

Method

Start by preparing the sardines. Place a fish on a board with the head pointing away from you. Gently run a dessertspoon from tail to head to remove the scales.  Next, snip off the fins and tail of the sardine, then cut off the head. Now open up the stomach and remove the innards, leaving the cavity open. Repeat with the remaining sardines. Rinse the fish and the board before continuing.

Lay each fish on the board sideways on and cut along the stomach from head to tail almost all the way through. This will allow you to open the fish flat so the two fillets lie flat on the board, joined only in the middle. The backbone should pull away easily at this point and can be discarded.

Now make a start on the dressing. Place the olive oil in a bowl and add the lemon juice and zest. Add the chopped chilli, garlic, red onion and parsley, and season to taste.

Mix the flour with the paprika and dust all over the open fish. Heat some oil in a frying pan and lay the fish skin-side down in the pan. Give them about 3 minutes either side. Don’t pack the fish into the pan. Instead, cook the fish in batches, and keep them warm in the oven while you cook the rest.

Finally, lay all the fish skin-side up on a platter and spread some of the vinaigrette over. Serve with the remainder of the vinaigrette in a bowl on the side.