Sarde in Saor

Serves 4 - Cook in 30 minutes, plus 24 hours to marinate in the fridge

Ingredients

- 700g di fresh sardines, gutted, scaled, heads removed
- 1 kg white onion, finely sliced
- 40g ‘00’ flour (or all-purpose flour)
- Sunflower oil for frying
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon of caster sugar
- 200ml white wine vinegar
- 40g raisins (optional)
- 40g pine nuts (optional)

Preparation

Step 1

Begin by soaking your raisins in lukewarm water. Take your gutted, scaled (with heads removed) sardines, rinse under cold water and pat dry with kitchen paper. Add the flour into a bowl and toss the sardines, making sure you remove any excess flour.

Step 2

Begin to fry the sardines in sunflower oil (the oil must be boiling!), making sure to brown on both sides. Once browned, drain and transfer onto a plate covered with kitchen paper, and salt. Place olive oil in a frying pan and on medium heat sweat the onions (around 10-15 minutes). Next add pepper, salt, sugar and vinegar, continue to cook until slightly reduced – this is your saor.

Step 3

In a small bowl begin to arrange a layer of fried sardines, covering with a layer of saor, adding raisins (dried and drained) and pine nuts. Repeat this until you finish all ingredients, ending with a layer of saor.  Pour any of the remaining liquid on top. 

Wrap with cling film, and leave to marinate in the fridge for 24 hours before serving cold. Buon appetito!