Fatma’s Algerian Escabeche

Name: Fatma’s Algerian Escabeche
Cuisine: France
Ingredients: 2 pounds fresh large sardines or pilchards, dressed; 2 pounds fresh large sardines or pilchards, dressed; 1 cup olive oil; 1 small red onion, finely chopped; 6 large cloves garlic, finely chopped; Salt; Unbleached all-purpose flour as needed; 4 to 6 tiny dried Tabasco peppers (piments oiseaux), to your personal taste, chopped into a powder; 1 teaspoon ground cumin; 1 teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika; 1 small carrot, finely chopped; ⅔ cup cider vinegar; 1 Mediterranean bay leaf, crumbled; 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves or ½ teaspoon dried; 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves or ½ teaspoon dried; ⅓ cup water; Pepper from the mill

Preparation info

FCR—
6
servings

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The New Making of a Cook

By Madeleine Kamman

Published 1997

About

From Fatma Charif who in 1974 spent a lot of time furthering my culinary education in Algiers. You can use any small fillet you like such as Mediterranean mullet, fillets of ocean perch, smelts, fillets of tinker mackerel, etc.

Ingredients

1 cup olive oil
2 pounds fresh large sardines or pilchards, dressed
Unbleached all-

Europe
France
Fish course
Pescatarian

Method

Heat ⅓ cup of the oil in a large skillet. Toss the sardines in just enough salted flour to coat them lightly. Fry the sardines on both sides over high heat until golden, about 3 minutes per side. Remove to a cutting board and let set until cool enough to handle. Bone each fish, then replace the top fillet on the bottom fillet. Arrange the sardines head to tail in a large dish. Cool completely.<