Sardine Empanada

I love sardines – fried, marinated, roasted or barbecued, with rice or even as empanadas. The charm of this empanada is that it protects the sardines’ tender flesh from direct contact with the heat and adds a crusty texture without masking the natural taste of the fish. It’s a type of ‘crostino’ that could easily be adapted to other recipes.

Serves 4

1 frozen pre-baked loaf of white bread

16 fresh sardines, filleted

150g ripe tomatoes

50g diced courgette

50g diced aubergine

100ml olive oil

75g diced onion

75g diced green pepper

75g diced red pepper

chervil oil

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

chervil leaves, to garnish

Cut the crusts off the loaf of bread. Using a slicing machine (or a very sharp bread knife), slice the frozen bread into the thinnest possible slices. You need 32 slices. Set aside to thaw.

Next make the brine by dissolving 10g salt in 100ml warm water; cool. Add the sardine fillets to the brine and leave for 10 minutes to remove traces of blood and to season them. Drain and dry on kitchen paper, then set aside.

Blanch (14 seconds), peel, seed and dice the tomatoes. Sprinkle some sea salt over the courgette and aubergine and leave them to drain; this will remove any bitterness.

Heat a little of the olive oil in a pan and fry the onion for 5 minutes over a moderate flame. Add the peppers and continue frying for 3 minutes, then add the courgette and aubergine and cook for a further 4 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and stew them until softened. Check the seasoning. Remove from the heat and keep warm.

Trim each slice of bread so it is slightly larger than a sardine fillet. Lay a fillet on top of each slice. Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan. A few at a time, put the slices of bread, with the sardines on top, in the pan and cook over a gentle heat until the bread is toasted golden brown and the sardine is cooked too (the bread will transfer the heat to the sardine – do not turn over). As each batch is cooked, keep hot.

To serve, spoon the cooked vegetable mixture on to the plates and lay the sardine empanadas, bread side down, on top. Season with chervil oil and garnish with chervil leaves.

Sardine Empanada