Grilled Atlantic Sardines with tomato sauce
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 3 smaller or 2 larger sardines per person. (Ask your fishmonger to scale, gut and take the heads off)
For the marinade
- 100ml of olive oil
- 5g garlic - peeled & finely chopped
- 10g shallots - peeled & finely chopped
- 25g fresh parsley - washed & finely chopped
- A small bunch of fresh rosemary finely chopped, about 1 teaspoon full
- A good pinch of coarse ground black pepper & sea salt to season
For the tomato sauce
- 65g onions - peeled and cut into 1/2cm squares
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 - 2 cloves of garlic (2 scant teaspoons)- peeled and finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme - chopped
- 1 small bay leaf
Method
- Wash your sardines and pat dry inside and out with a paper towel.
- Combine all of the marinade ingredients in a shallow dish.
- Coat the sardines in the mix and leave in dish. Cover, refrigerate and allow to marinade for at least 2 hours prior to cooking.
- Whilst the sardines marinate, prepare the tomato sauce.
- Sweat the garlic & onion in the olive oil for 5 minutes without colouring
- Add the tomato puree, bay leaf, thyme & sugar and cook for 1 minute further.
- Add the chopped tomatoes & the seasoning and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add the water and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Set the sauce aside for a time to allow the flavours to infuse.
- You can serve the coarse sauce as is, or if you prefer a smooth sauce liquidise with a hand blender then pass through a fine sieve.
- Reheat before serving.
- When ready take the sardines out of the marinade & grill for two minutes each side under a hot grill or on a griddle pan.
- Place the sardines in individual bowls and spoon the marinade over them.
- Serve immediately with lashings of tomato sauce.