Ellen's Stuffed Sardines

This is one my wife has been working on and finalized recently.  She's been working on it a bit to get away from the more common heavily herbed recipes you often see.

Yield: 4 sardines (scale with your catch)

4-6 cloves garlic, pressed
2-3 TBSP finely minced curly parsley
1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup oil packed sun-dried tomatoes, lightly drained, roughly chopped
1/2 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and quartered lengthwise
1/2 cup grape tomatoes, halved

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Zest the lemon half, then cut in two pieces.  Juice one quarter of the lemon, slice the other quarter into half moons.

Clean and gut sardines and dry thoroughly.  Arrange on a parchment covered baking sheet.

Combine garlic, parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, sun-dried tomatoes, and half of the kalamata olives in a small bowl.  Fill the sardine cavities with the mixture, spreading excess on the exterior.  Scatter remaining olives and tomatoes around the sardines.  Place one lemon half-moon on each sardine.

Bake for 12 minutes, then broil for 5 minutes.  Serve.

it looks delicious, thanks for the recipe and pix!

It's time to break out the sabiki...

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

looks delish, I need to catch some sardines and try it!

Less the capers over pasta could be a Pesce Puttanesca, ay Ghio McStealthy?

Less the capers over pasta could be a Pesce Puttanesca, ay Ghio McStealthy?

Good eye... it's inspired by puttanesca.  Capers and the other briney bits are replaced by the sardines and the bits that wouldn't pair well with sardines are removed. 

Less the capers over pasta could be a Pesce Puttanesca, ay Ghio McStealthy?

Good eye... it's inspired by puttanesca.  Capers and the other briney bits are replaced by the sardines and the bits that wouldn't pair well with sardines are removed.

Wish my wife liked the oilier fish.  Hope it wouldn't be blasphemous to add bacon...mmmm...bacon...

Less the capers over pasta could be a Pesce Puttanesca, ay Ghio McStealthy?

Good eye... it's inspired by puttanesca.  Capers and the other briney bits are replaced by the sardines and the bits that wouldn't pair well with sardines are removed.

Wish my wife liked the oilier fish.  Hope it wouldn't be blasphemous to add bacon...mmmm...bacon...

c'mon, when did adding bacon ever ruin anything?

Where are you getting fresh sardines?

Where are you getting fresh sardines?

When I posted this, we had just scored some sardines from Sea Forager (Kirk Lombard's CSF).  They were landed by F/V Sea Wave out of Monterey, CA. 

Thanks

Our Italian friends would love it if I could supply them with sardines

I’ve never followed them but wondered if it would be worth taking the throw net out in Monterey Bay

I’ve never followed them but wondered if it would be worth taking the throw net out in Monterey Bay

From my research, sardines are most commonly found in the southern parts of the bay (think straight out from Coast Guard Pier) and sabiki is probably more common than cast net.  Go get 'em!

Thanks for the recipe. Looks delish and nice presentation.

Alex

Made this again last night... didn't have enough Kalamata olives, so we used a mix of Castelvetranos and Kalamatas with good results.