I’m experiencing a certain sardine fixation of late; my partner and I each night serenely sitting on the floor (my apartment is too small for a dinner table) like two opulent cats attending to their suppers of glistening, omega-rich sardine fillets. And I’m yet to hit the wall of what is possible for this tiny fish. This includes:

• Sardine and kimchi fried rice
• Sardine curry with tamarind
• Lemony sardine pasta with snap peas and ricotta
• Teriyaki sardines, greens and rice
• Pasta with sardines in a spicy tomato sauce

And the two parallel favourites: sardines with a Palestinian green lemon sauce, and sardines with Vietnamese flavours. Both fresh with herbs, boisterous with citrus, and jolted awake with chilli. Furthermore, they’re so very simple (and pair so well together) that I thought I’d include both recipes here today.

Sardines do indeed taste of sardines, and if that bald fact makes you aghast then these two recipes likely won’t change your mind.

If, however, you’re sure of hoof and bold of palate, these might help get you started or augment your existing sardine schedule. Fish that have been ushered from water into a tin can is a flavour I happen to enjoy—there’s a plump, hair-strengthening smoky richness to them, and a tender, flaky barely-held-together solidity. Alas, the ones that are most delicious to me are the more expensive Diplomats brislings and Unda smoked Baltic sardines, which taste mellowly savoury and luxuriously oleaginous. But, I’ve tried sardines from across the pricing spectrum and they all have their merits—I do, however, recommend those packed in olive oil over the spring water ones which tend to be drier and less luscious.

To the recipes: The sardines can really stand up to and support some bombastic flavours without being overwhelmed, like the culinary equivalent of the dance battle in the remix music video for It’s Like That by Run-DMC. Here, there’s two quickly stirred together dressings. The Tatbeelet Laymonn Khadra from Sami Tamimi’s Boustany is led by fragrant, musky parsley and the acidity double-bounce of lemon juice and vinegar, both necessary—lemon for sunshiney almost-sweetness, vinegar for mysterious savoury tang. The chilli mellows a little in the acid (or at least, I tell myself it does) and there’s not much more to it than that, and yet! The flavours just keep unfolding further and further, the sharpness balancing the oiliness of the sardines.

The Vietnamese-adjacent flavours of the second recipe take the same framework, recognising that pungent herbs, sourness and chilli are all able to take on this robust little fish. I love mint and chilli together—it’s like the relief of dashing from a tiles-of-ice bathroom into a bed with a hot water bottle in it (or conversely, stepping from the sweltering outdoors into a shop with air conditioning.) Fish sauce on fish just makes so much sense, providing lip-smacking, complex saltiness balanced by the lemon juice—though lime would be excellent if you have it. There’s just a little extra richness from the toasty sesame seeds, and you could, I suppose, add a dot of sesame oil, but I prefer it sharper and clearer without.  

If you’d like to do more than simply grab your fork, I spooned mounds of these onto Rewana bread from the Britomart market and recommend you do the same; but would also recommend serving these on rice or tucked into pita, perhaps with some crevice-filling rocket stuffed in too; precariously scooping them up with sturdy, seeded crackers, or draping the lot over hot, crisp oven fries.

This is my first sardine recipe after almost twenty years of food blogging—unsure if this is damning or simply an example of the blog evolving with me and whatever the heck I’m up to—but if you’re after more recipes that make the most of fish that have been preserved in some way to be grabbed in haste and savoured at leisure, I recommend this Zibdiyit Gambari (saucy, luscious, and fast); this Salmon, Mango and Coriander Salad (cooling, fresh, amenable to other herbs); this Peach, Prawn and Corn Salad (even fresher, luxuriously summery) and this Salmon with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes (relaxed, elegant, low-effort.)

Sardine supper

Two quick and terrific ways to have sardines for dinner, though don’t be constrained by my alliteration (and I ate both of these for lunch after taking the photos you see). Both recipes are defined by herbs, chilli, and sourness, in entirely different directions. As always, before shopping for these or any ingredients, I recommend checking out the Boycott Aotearoa zines so you know which brands to avoid. Although I’ve put together these recipes myself using my own initative, the Tatbeelet Laymonn Khadra is adapted from Sami Tamimi’s excellent book Boustany, which you’ll recognise from several other references throughout this blog since I bought it.

Sardines with Tatbeelet Laymonn Khadra [green lemon sauce]

• 20g flat-leaf parsley
• 1 green chilli
• A strip of lemon peel
• 2 garlic cloves
• 75ml fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• salt
• 1 x 100g tin sardines in olive oil

1: First, a bit of chopping.Use a large knife to roughly chop the 20g parsley into green shreds. Next, deseed and finely chop the green chilli, and very finely dice both the strip of lemon peel and the two garlic cloves.

2: In a small bowl, mix together your parsley, chilli, lemon peel and garlic. Stir in the 75ml fresh lemon juice, the two tablespoons of white wine vinegar and a hearty pinch of salt. Place the sardines, lightly drained, into a serving bowl and spoon over the sauce. That’s it!

Notes:

• A red chilli is also all good here, though it makes it less green.
• To make this more substantial for two people, you can add another tin of sardines, without needing to augment anything else. There’s enough sauce for everyone.
• I’ve made this with curly parsley and it works well, but I much prefer flat-leaf.

Vietnamese-adjacent sardines with chilli and mint

• 20g fresh mint leaves
• 2 teaspoons fish sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (or lime if you have it)
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 red or green chilli
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• Optional: 1 tablespoon basmati rice
• 1 x 100g tin sardines in olive oil

1: Roughly chop your 20g mint. As above, a large knife is best for this. Add it to a small bowl and stir in the two teaspoons of fish sauce, the 1/4 teaspoon sugar, the two tablespoons lemon juice, and the tablespoon of water.

2: Seed and finely dice your chilli, and stir that in too. Quickly toast the tablespoon of sesame seeds in a small pan and set aside. If you like, and have the means, you can also then toast the tablespoon of uncooked basmati rice and then grind it into a powder with a mortar and pestle, and stir that into the sauce.

3: Lightly drain the tin of sardines, stir them into the sauce, and then arrange on a serving dish with the toasted sesame seeds scattered over.

Notes:

• As above, you can add an extra tin of sardines to this without needing to change anything else.
• The toasted rice adds a very pleasing soft grittiness and toasty flavour; don’t stress if you don’t have a pestle and mortar or indeed, the inclination.
• I sometimes add a pinch of powdered lemongrass, if you have some you could feel free to do the same.

what I’ve been listening to lately:

Fast and Frightening by L7, that x5-speed drumbeat that sounds like a series of stones falling on sheet metal, so fast it almost sounds like static! The way Donita Sparks manipulates the titular “frightening”!! RIP Jennifer Finch!!! Frankly sick of this music section being an obituaries page!!!!

Wile Out by Ms Dynamite and DJ Zinc, without losing sight of the fact that 2009/10 were in fact exceptional years for music if you knew where to look, this sounds SO FRESH. (How fresh? I hear you call out? So fresh I feel like it has covered me in a dressing of mint leaf chiffonade and just-reamed lemon juice.) This is the kind of music that makes you want to have one generously-poured glass of chardonnay and then turn the sidewalk into your catwalk.  

Death Ceremony by Grace McLean from the musical In the Green; it has this odd, ceremonial leafy airiness to it to start with and then suddenly becomes snarling and howling and metallic in its enthralling denouement; there aren’t too many songs from musicals where you can use the adjective “That-Dog-esque”, but here we are.

PS: Feeling hopeless is a luxury that serves no one but those perpetrating the hopelessness, despite the hopelessness being accelerated beyond comprehension daily. The people of Palestine need us now more than ever; aside from directly sending money when you see personal videos pop up as you scroll, you can support:

• ReliefAid’s Gaza Appeal, who are connected with teams on the ground in Gaza.
• Convoys of Good, another registered NZ charity distributing aid.
• Please visit Chuffed—they’re one of the few spaces providing families in Palestine with official crowd-funding platforms, as well as for other urgent causes.
• As I’ve already mentioned, you can also demonstrate your control and power through the absence of your dollars. Boycott Zine Aotearoa has helpfully put together two comprehensive free zines so you can quickly see who to studiously avoid when buying food, drinks, household items and beauty products.
• You can also check out the Pro-Palestine Business Aotearoa account by the same people for a very solid list of places to actively focus your consumer attention on.