Sardines with Green Salsa

Recipe: Sardines with Green Salsa
Page: 216
Date Cooked: May 15, 2011

I've always felt that serving a whole fish had a grandeur to it. I just love the way it looks on a plate. And it doesn't hurt that many times it has tasted delicious. Yet, I have always been somewhat hesitant to do it on my own. The concept seemed scary and I was sure I would ruin a delicate piece of fish. But most of all, I was scared about cleaning the fish myself. I am by no means a squeamish person and I also truly believe in respecting the ingredients themselves and wanted to follow through with the utmost precision. The "Sardines with Green Salsa" recipe provided an opportunity to get over my fear and also begin my whole fish dreams with a nice small fish - a sardine.

Ingredients: Anchovy fillets, garlic, basil, parsley, red pepper flakes, olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon, lime, sardines, and rosemary

I suppose it made sense to get the green salsa part of the recipe done and out of the way of fishy hands. With a blender, the anchovies, garlic, basil, parsley, red pepper flakes, and olive oil are mixed all together. I then proceeded to salt and pepper the salsa to taste.

Green Salsa

With the salsa out of the way it was time to deal with the fish. Like I mentioned, I'm not squeamish but it was strange holding a whole fish in my hand. I've never been fishing and though I've handled a lobster, this experience was completely novel. Jonathan Waxman advises you to "grasp the gills of each sardine below the head and pull them out." This technique is supposed to bring the innards out as well. Many time this worked perfectly fine, but once in a while I had to pull the innards out using my fingers.

Left: Whole sardine Right: Grasping the head to pull out the innards

I did this with all the fish and rubbed off any scales. I then rubbed olive oil, salt, and pepper on the fish and stuffed the cavities with lemon zest and a rosemary sprig.

Sardine cavity with lemon zest and rosemary sprig

With the "messy" part out of the way it was on to pan-frying the fish. I heated some olive oil in a skillet and fried the sardines in batches until just cooked through. The fish was put onto a plate, drizzled with salsa, and finally squeezed a little lemon and lime juice.

Sardines with Green Salsa

I was still thoroughly excited that I had FINALLY cooked a whole fish and delved right into my plate. I enjoyed the fish and the green salsa provided the right kind of balance to the sardines. However, being a small fish, there were tons of bones. I mean lots of bones. Of course I don't think eating a whole fish is the sexiest thing, so I think once you get past all the bones you get an opportunity to enjoy the fish and the salsa. However, my fellow diner felt that the fishiness of the sardine overpowered the dish in its entirety. They enjoyed the salsa very much but it was apparent that the fish wasn't the star of their plate.

So, my overall take on this recipe... Firstly, I am no longer scared to cook a whole fish. Second, I would do it again, but perhaps with a different kind of fish. Though I enjoyed the dish I did feel a bit "sardine-y" the rest of the day and could see how a less fishier fish could really improve the dish. Nonetheless the preparation was simple and I still believe the presentation was beautiful. All in all, I had a good time with this recipe and really felt like I learned a lot.

Enjoy!