Les Rougets ou Sardines Fraîches en Escabèche

Name: Les Rougets ou Sardines Fraîches en Escabèche (Red mullet or sardines in a spicy sauce)
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 1 small red pepper deseeded and cubed; a pinch of thyme; 4 leaves of fresh mint; 2 tablespoons vinegar; salt, pepper; 3 tablespoons cooking oil; 1 onion, sliced; 2 cloves garlic, chopped; 8 small fresh sardines; 4 red mullet, weighing approx 150 g (5¼ oz) each or; flour

Red mullet or sardines in a spicy sauce

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Goose Fat & Garlic

By Jeanne Strang

Published 1991

About

Rougets (red mullet) and fresh sardines, two small salt water fish landed at Atlantic fishing ports, are prepared similarly. Red mullet, bony, firm-fleshed with a distinctive flavour, is simply fried and coated with a spicy sauce. The Provençal word escabèche has come to denote such a sauce.

Ingredients

4 red mullet, weighing approx 150 g (5¼ oz) each or
8 small fresh

Europe
France
Fish course
Pescatarian
Mediterranean

Method

Clean and scale the red mullet, leaving any roe inside. Roll in seasoned flour and fry in a little cooking oil for 5 minutes or so on each side. Transfer to a heated serving dish and keep warm.

Add a little more oil to the pan and tip in the onion and garlic, red pepper and the herbs. Allow to fry gently until the onion begins to colour, then pour in the vinegar and reduce the sauce a l