Dinner Tonight: Deviled Sardines
I’ve been feeling so guilty recently about the plight of salmon and the overfishing of tuna that I’ve kind of sworn off fish for the season. How do you balance the supposed health benefits of a miracle food with the news that’s come up with of late? The New York Times said to eat smaller fish, and more specifically sardines. So I decided to do just that. But in my Midwestern town, fresh sardines are hard to come by—none of the local fishmongers had any. So what were my options now? I dug a little deeper and came across some great love for canned sardines.
I just wanted a simple recipe to introduce me to the wonders of these small tinned fish. But it was kind of hard. I finally found a recipe in Beard on Food, by James Beard. He even has a whole section titled “The Sardine, A Small Miracle”. The recipe I eventually tried was found in the “What the Devil is Devil” section, where Beard tries to figure out what the term “deviled” actually means. Though it differs in each country, in England it refers to dishes with a “very high seasoning as, for instance, deviled roes and deviled sardines, which are. . . seasoned with cayenne, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce and served on toast.” It sounded so tasty that I followed the one-line recipe for Deviled Sardines and came up with a really tasty hors d'oeuvre.
Anyone have any luck with canned sardines?
About the author: Nick Kindelsperger is a co-founder of The Paupered Chef, a blog dedicated to saving time and money while enjoying food in every way possible. He sells wine for a living and lives in Columbus, Ohio.
Deviled Sardines
- serves 1-2 -
Ingredients
1 can of sardines
Dijon Mustard
Worcestershire sauce
Cayenne
Toast or crackers
Procedure
Place one sardine on a piece of toast or a cracker. Sprinkle with a little cayenne and Worcestershire sauce. Then top with the mustard.
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8 Comments:
Soak chopped or slivered onions and the sardines in vinegar, then place both the onions and sardines on buttered bread. It makes a lovely pickled sandwich, but is a bit smelly if you take it into the office.
anonymoose at 4:49PM on 06/23/08
Chocolate & Zucchini posted lovely sardine harissa "recipe" that sounds delicious:
http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2003/10/sardine_harissa_polar_bread_sandwich.php
Centelleo at 5:57PM on 06/23/08
My comfort food: sardines in olive oil, drained on Ritz crackers and bright, cheap yellow mustard.
mangabanga at 6:52PM on 06/23/08
Being Filipino-Am, I grew up eating canned sardines in tomato sauce over rice. My mom would saute some onions and garlic, add chili sauce to the adult portions, and serve the "dressed up" version of the canned sardines over a bed of rice with some steamed green veggie on the side. You can usually find canned sardines in tomato sauce near the other tinned fish, or in the Latino aisle at the grocery store.
Lorena at 12:16PM on 06/24/08
I have been eating tinned sardines for years. Healthy and quick , my son eats them too. Try them with cream cheese on black bread or in pasta with raisins.
http://izzyeats.blogspot.com/2007/06/sardine-scene.html
izzy's mama at 2:27PM on 06/24/08
Canned sardines on grilled country bread, topped with crumbled or sliced chillies and chopped fresh mint make a brilliant sardine bruschetta. Simple to make but delicious: the chilli provides "devil" whereas the mint is cooling (it also takes away any fishiness and prevents repetition burping): a great flavour combination - even for people who think they don't like sardines!
gastroplod at 5:13PM on 06/25/08
Thank you for the Deviled Sardines recipe. Tinned sardines are high in protein and great food for your brain! I gave up eating deviled ham years ago, the same time I stopped eating Spam. The only deviled thing that I have eaten recently is deviled eggs. In 1988 an international student asked me why I called my prepared eggs "deviled eggs" instead of "stuffed eggs," and I told her because you remove the yolks and mash the devil out of it! :D
Hagd/hagn, Deb T.
p_f_flyers at 7:34PM on 06/26/08
not sure how to sprinkle worcestshire sauce onto the sardine and cracker without the cracker getting soggy. so i just mushed the sardines, pepper, sauce and mustard together and dolloped it onto crackers. quite tasty.
flipup at 1:47PM on 06/24/09