Wild Sardines with Bread Crumbs, Orange Zest, Tomatoes & Lemon

January 6th, 2007

This is a very simple dish that it easy to prepare. However, please note that it’s only worthwhile to do this if you have find super fresh sardines (caught the same day) and make the dish the same day. Sardines are delicious but they perish very quickly. Waiting even one day to eat them is not advised.

Ingredients (serves 6-8):
-Salt
-Extra virgin olive oil
-1 cup San Marzano crushed tomatoes
-Zest of one orange
-1 cup fresh bread crumbs
-2 pounds fresh wild sardines
-2 lemons sliced into thin wedges
-1 clove garlic chopped coarsely

Tomato Sauce
Pre-heat your oven to 425. In a large sauté pan heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat. Add the sliced garlic and sauté until translucent. Add the crushed San Marzano tomatoes and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for approximately 20 minutes. Season with salt and set aside.

Bread Crumbs
Take a big piece of fresh bread (day old is fine too) and break into pieces. Add to a food processor and chop until coarse but not too fine. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a 10-12″ sauté pan and add the bread crumbs. Toss with the oil until lightly toasted. Add in the orange zest and season with salt. Set aside.

Sardines
Wash and pat dry your sardines. In a large not-stick pan heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat. Lay the sardines into the pan (do in batches if there not enough room to accommodate all of them) and sauté 1 minute on each side. Remove the sardines–taking care not to break them–and set aside on a plate.

Take the large pan with the San Marzano tomatoes and add in all of your sardines. Do not stack them on top of one another. Add the toasted bread crumbs on top and cover with the lemon wedges. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and insert into the 425 degree oven. Roast for approximately 15 minutes or until you can easily pierce the sardines with a knife. Serve immediately.

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