Name: Sardines en Escabeche
Yield: Serves two to four
Cuisine: Arabian
Ingredients: 30 ml/2 tbsp olive oil; roasted red onion, green (bell) pepper and tomatoes, to garnish; 90 ml/6 tbsp olive oil; 1 onion, sliced; seasoned plain (all-purpose) flour, for dusting; 120 ml/4 fl oz/½ cup white wine; 12-16 sardines, cleaned; 5 ml/1 tsp paprika; 1 dried red chilli, seeded and chopped; 2 cloves; 120 ml/4 fl oz/½ cup wine or sherry vinegar; 3-4 bay leaves; salt and ground black pepper; 1 garlic clove, crushed

Preparation info

Serves
two to four

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Recipes from My Spanish Grandmother

By Pepita Aris

Published 2013

About

The Arabs invented marinades as a means of preserving poultry, meat and game, and Escabeche means “acid” in Arabic. In Spain this method was Enthusiastically adopted as a means of keeping fish fresh. The fish are always fried first and then stored in vinegar.

Ingredients

12-16 sardines, cleaned
seasoned plain (all-purpose) flour, for dusting
30 ml/2 tbsp

Method

Using a sharp knife, cut the heads off the sardines and split each of them along the belly. Turn the fish over so that the backbone is uppermost. Press down along the backbone to loosen it, then carefully lift out the backbone and as many of the remaining little bones as possible.