pickled sardines...

hey viewers are you a sardine fan? if so how do you like them, canned, fresh, grilled, crumbed? have you ever tried pickled sardines? if not and you are a sardine lover like myself then you are in for a treat. this handy and simple recipe was tried and tested during my birthday festiva and made by none other than the lovely linda herself. usually we sekulic ladies are pretty tight lipped about our recipes but am happy to share this one with you today as obviously it is not one of our top-secret ones. these are so delish and i have to confess while my little sestra was preoccupied setting up the most amazing grazing table, i, myself under the guise of being the birthday gal was quietly stealing them right before her very eyes and so was my son! needless to say she was a bit confused as to why her pile of sardines seemed to be disappearing. so good, worth stealing for sure that’s why i am pinching this recipe to share with you. as she showed me how to make them very recently. basically i followed the recipe minus the juniper berries as we didn’t have any. instead i added thinly sliced garlic and some chilli. this was the recipe requested by some of my guests so here it is folks. we used port lincoln sardines. enjoy the humble sardine because once you start you won’t be able to stop eating them.

this recipe came from SBS, click on the link and save it for yourself

https://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipe/quick-pickled-sardines-le-sardines-rapide-au-vinaigre/m0xnnxm2j

Ingredients

• 150 ml cider vinegar
• 150 ml white wine vinegar
• 100 g sugar
• 2 tsp table salt
• 2 bay leaves
• 10 black peppercorns
• 2 juniper berries
• 20 fresh sardine fillets, deboned
• 1 small cucumber, sliced into thin rounds
• 1 small red onion, peeled and finely sliced
• 1 lemon, zested and cut into wedges

Resting time 6 hours or overnight

Instructions

Place all the ingredients apart from the sardines, cucumber, onion and lemon zest in a pot. Bring to the boil and stir until all the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

When the brine has cooled to room temperature, pour it into shallow non-metallic dish. Add the sardine fillets (check for bones), cucumber, onion and lemon zest. Make sure everything is submerged in the liquid. Cover the dish in cling film (not foil) and leave in the fridge for at least 6 hours, or overnight.

Serve on buttered rye bread or the apple and caraway crackers with wedges of lemon.

Les petits conseils – tips

• Ask your fishmonger to fillet your sardines for you, as it is a fiddly process.