← Nouns Cooking · Italian

Ingredients

• 800 g fresh sardines, scaled, gutted, heads removed and butterflied
• 40 g plain flour, for dusting
• 250 ml sunflower oil, for frying
• 800 g white onions, thinly sliced
• 4 tbsp Olive oil
• 150 ml white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 2 Bay leaves
• 30 g Raisins, soaked in warm water for 10 min
• 30 g Pine nuts
• Salt
• Black pepper

Method

1. Pat the sardines dry and dust them lightly with flour. Heat the sunflower oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat and fry them in batches for 2 min per side, until golden. Drain on paper and salt them.
2. Warm the olive oil in a wide pan over low heat and cook the onions with the bay leaves and a pinch of salt for 20 min, stirring, until very soft and translucent but not browned.
3. Add the vinegar, sugar, drained raisins and pine nuts and simmer for 5 min. Season with pepper.
4. In a glass or ceramic dish, layer the sardines and onions, finishing with onions and all their juices.
5. Cover and refrigerate for at least 12 hours (up to 3 days) so the fish soaks up the marinade. Serve at room temperature, on bread or with grilled polenta.

Tips

• “Saor” means flavour; the vinegar was how Venetian sailors kept fish good for days.
• Keeps for 3 days in the fridge and only gets better.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Great Italian Chefs GialloZafferano