Le Sarde in Carpione con Aioli

We cooked this up last night with fresh caught Sardines (we skipped the pickling as we were hungry) and let the rest pickle for tonight's dinner. My wife has had something similar in Sicily and several towns in Spain and always wanted fresh Sardines to make it. Delicious.

Le Sarde in Carpione (con Aioli)

Ingedients

For sardines
      1 pound or so of sardines
      1/2 cup flour spread on a plate
      olive oil for frying
      
Marinade
        1 cup yellow onion, sliced thin
        1/2 cup wine vinegar
        4 bay leaves

For Aioli
      2 Cloves garlic
      2 tb Basil leaves; (optional)
      1 lg Egg yolk
      1 tb Dijon-style mustard
      2 ts Lemon juice
      250 ml Oil; (walnut, macadamia, or olive)

Instructions
Put enough oil (we use olive) in the skillet to come up the sides about an inch.
Dredge the fillets (we used whole fish with gutted and scaled with the heads cut off because I was impatient and hungry) in flour with a little salt and pepper to taste and fry them until golden brown--about 2 minutes to a side. Put the fish in a platter that will hold them in a single layer. Reserve half the oil.

Put the onion in the same skillet and turn the heat to medium low. Cook onion until tender but not colored. Add the vinegar and urn up the heat letting it bubble for half a minute. Pour the contents over the fish in the platter. Cover with foil and let sit for at least 12 hours--you don't have to refrigerate it it eating within 24 hours. Can stay in the refirgerator for several days. Let the fish come to room temperature before serving with aioli.

Aioli
Crush garlic in a mortar of food processor. Add basil, egg yolk, mustard and lemon juice. Blend well. Slowly add oil, a drop at a time, stirring constantly. Continue adding oil and stirring until a thick cream is obtained. Drain sardines and serve with a salad, some good bread and the Aioli. Note: If the mixture curdles, start with another egg and add the curdled mixture a little at a time stirring constantly.

Agradecimiento!

escabeche, one of my favorites.

Damn, now I'm hungry...

no pics 

no pics 

It looks like this 

I have been loving grilled sardines all summer, have to try this before they are gone

Sardines taste best fresh--the day I catch them. They are good after a day or frozen and thawed--but they taste more and more fishy over time and so need more "seasoning" to taste great to my palate. that's why I like Aioli and other seasonings.