Cal Stamenov, Executive Chef at the award-winning Bernardus Lodge in Carmel Valley, California, shared this inventive and delicious seafood recipe with us during a Chef Walk he led at our Farm Stand.
6 fresh sardines
1 cup olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 bunch fresh thyme
1 bunch fresh basil
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
2 potatoes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Garnishes:
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 medium-size ripe tomato, finely diced
10 oil-cured black olives, chopped
10 stems fresh rosemary (leaves from 4, chopped; the rest reserved whole)
1 bunch chives, finely chopped
Sherry vinegar
Extra-virgin olive oil
Fillet the sardines: Using a sharp knife, cut off the head of the fish and run the knife down both sides of the backbone. (Or have the fish market fillet and clean them for you.) You should end up with 12 fillets of semi-boneless fish.
Place the fillets on a sheet pan, skin side down. Season with salt and pepper.
In a sauté pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Place sardine fillets side by side in the pan, skin side up. Sauté until just cooked through, about 2 minutes. Carefully remove the fillets from the pan with a spatula and place on a clean sheet pan, skin side up. Cool in the refrigerator.
Place onion and thyme in the bottom of an airtight container. Lay the sardine fillets on top and cover with olive oil to preserve. (Keeps up to 1 week in the refrigerator.)
Boil the potatoes in salted water until soft. In a food processor or blender, purée the potatoes with 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil until smooth. Combine the basil and potato purées, vinegar, and shallots. Mix well.
Using a pastry bag, pipe the basil potatoes approximately the length of a sardine fillet onto each of 6 dinner plates. Lay two fillets over the potatoes on each plate. Sprinkle with garnishes: black olives, chopped rosemary, shallots, chives tomatoes, and a stem of rosemary. Drizzle with sherry vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil.
We don't have any photos for this recipe yet!
We don't have any videos for this recipe yet!
