Layered sardine sandwich
For 6 The following quantity of sardines will give you six fillets per portion; you might want to do eight fillets per person for a main course.
18 large very fresh sardines
olive oil
150 g (5 oz) breadcrumbs
grated zest of 2 lemons
200 g (7 oz) pine nuts
3 small dried red chillies, crumbled
1 bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked from their stalks, finely chopped
Maldon salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 lemons, thickly sliced
Preheat the oven to 200° C/400° F/Gas 6.
First scale the sardines, then slit the stomach with your knife and remove the guts. Cut the head off, following the angle of the gills. Make an incision with your knife, cutting in towards the backbone, and along the spine of the fish, carefully cutting the fillet away from the bone. Repeat on the other side. Sardines have a lot of very fine bones which are attached to the backbone. Trim any large bones that remain on the fillets.
Brush a baking tray with olive oil and lay three of the fillets skin side down next to each other. Sprinkle with some of the breadcrumbs, lemon zest, pine nuts, dried chilli, parsley, salt and pepper. Then lay another three fillets directly over the top, skin side up. Sprinkle with more breadcrumbs, lemon zest, dried chilli, parsley, pine nuts, salt and pepper. This is one portion. Repeat this process until you have six sandwiches.
Drizzle the sandwiches lightly with olive oil and bake in the preheated oven for about 6–8 minutes. Serve with lemon slices.
