It’s funny what motivates us sometimes. I bought this tray of sardine fillets simply to avoid paying parking at the Sydney Fish Market (I needed to spend more than $50 to get free parking), and it sat in my freezer for a few weeks until I came across this lovely recipe in my Ottolenghi cookbook.
It’s a recipe with lots of ingredients, but most of the work is in the assembling – the actual cooking part is quite easy. Sorry, no imperial measures this time – as the cookbook is a UK edition, all ingredients were provided in metric.
- 100g medium bulgur (burghul) wheat (I used fine, leftover from my attempt at tabbouleh)
- 30g currants
- 30g slivered almonds, lightly toasted (original recipe used pistachio nuts)
- grated zest of 1 lemon
- 40ml lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 3 tablespoons dried mint
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
- 1 teaspoon caster (superfine) sugar
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- 8 fresh sardines, scaled, boned and butterflied (I used a tray of sardine fillets)
- salt and black pepper
- lemon wedges to serve
1. Soak the bulgur in a bowl of cold water for about 20 minutes, until soft. Drain in a fine sieve and squeeze out any excess moisture.
2. In a separate bowl, soak the currants in a little warm water for five minutes, then drain.
3. Add the currants and almond slivers to the bulgur, along with the zest, juice and most of the chopped parsley, keeping back a little to garnish. Mix in the crushed garlic, spices, mint, molasses, sugar and 5 tablespoons of oil, then season with salt and pepper to taste. Try not to eat this with a spoon (which is what I found myself doing..)
4. In yet another bowl, mix the sardine fillets with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Preheat the oven to 180C.
5. Stuff the sardines by lying them on a plate skin-down, and spooning a little of the stuffing mixture into the middle of each fish. Roll the fillet around the stuffing and secure with a toothpick or cocktail skewer.
6. Arrange the sardines on a baking tray lined with parchment and roast for 5 – 6 minutes, until just cooked through. My sardine fillets were quite small, so I scattered all the excess stuffing around the rolls prior to baking in the oven. Serve scattered with the remaining parsley and accompanied by the lemon wedges.
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Hahaaa Celia – thought I was the only one who did stuff like that ($50 for free parking)…, I’m usually mighty proud of myself too for achieving such frugal buying too. But look what you’ve brought us all…, its magnificent.., seriously.. (its hard to really get excited & show your enthusiasm when your normally a bouncing bunny like me) but I love, love, love this recipe…, awesome. Thanks
PS; OK, I’ll calm down now (I’ve not seen anything like this except when travelling through Europe)
Anna, I’m bouncing up and down in my seat too – so happy that this recipe has you excited! It was very delicious, and I felt quite sophisticated making it! :)
Celia I love sardines and currants together – all of these ingredients sound delicious together, what a combo. I’ve ordered my copy of Ottolenghi finally – can’t wait to get it.
Oh and just wanted to say what a lovely trio of breakfasts from homemade produce :)
Sarah, thank you – you’re going to love that cookbook! So many wonderful exotic dishes in it, but also really interesting twists on more mainstream ones as well. And thank you re the breakfasts – the boys cooked their own, it’s as close to “cooking” as they get.. :)
Well done Celia – it really is a wonderful book, isn’t it!
Ohhhh…one of my favourites…sardines, there are so many different exciting recipes…the Italians love them!!I must also check out that recipe book!..Yvettex
aren’t sardine fillets so very pretty, blues and greens with a dash of pink… almost like an oil slick though thats not an appetising thought! You know what I mean!
Amanda, thank you! It is indeed a fabulous book, as is Plenty…
Yvette, I love the way the Italians prepare sardines as well…yum!
Chef, I know exactly what you mean – the colours on the skins were almost iridescent. I often think that about fish skin, I was admiring bonito at the markets on Saturday – they were magnificently striped and almost glowing!
Lol, cute how u came to have these to save on parking, I’ll do the same! I have to try this sometime…Intrigued with the pomegranate molasses.
Hehe Celia well it makes sense-I’d rather get sardines than a big load of nothing for parking! OK OK I need to get this book :P
They look fab Celia – I’ve never tried sardines, but always wanted to. Don’t know where I can source decent fresh ones near me though, hmmm.
Looking good, what a great photo! Love the story about the parking :) Very interested in the breakfast pictures too. How did the chocolate icecream making go?
Soy, Lorraine, that’s exactly right! I could have a tray of discounted sardines plus free parking – wasn’t a hard decision to make! Soy, the pom molasses is getting easier to find these days – check out any Indian or Middle Eastern stores, but avoid the high end fancy food shops, they’re charging a fortune for it!
C, thank you! We have so much fresh seafood here that we’re a bit spoilt for choice!
Joanna, thank you! Chocolate icecream went really well, Pete now has a good recipe downpat…
I’m a fan of Sardines. particulary tiny ones cooked crispy with the bones. On the parking note, I can’t wait until there is a walking track from White Bay to the fish markets. I drive to work every day. I’d love not to drive on Saturday morning and walk around the bay to the markets. Taking the light rail is just as expensive as parking. I can cheat and take the 370 to Glebe and then walk, but it’s not a great walk on busy roads. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a fruit and veg market near the fish market too. I could get everything and trolley it home along the bay.
I could eat a bit to make up for that!
Frances, wouldn’t that be lovely? The fruit shop in the Fish Markets is usually so expensive. As is the light rail – a nice walking track would be perfect.. :)
Mmm, chocolate icecream! Will that one be making an appearance soon? I seriously need to get up and burn off all of those winter kilojoules that have been accumilating!!
This book, everything you make from it looks so good. I spent the most wonderful time at a friend’s house recently having a wonderful flip through it… :)
I have looked at that recipe several times – yours looks so good. See – we had to buy the house so we can have BBQed sardines – absolutely impossible to cook in an apartment. We were restricted to eating them for only 3 weeks a year at Cap Ferret! Husband slaps two filets together with a paste of parsley, garlic and lemon and then chuck on the barbie.
Hi Celia, I have had my eye on this recipe. i can’t wait to finally move into my own place and cook every evening. I have given up on bookmarking recipes for the Ottolenghi books. I want to make them all!! I made the Roasted Eggplant w/ Buttermilk Sauce a couple of weeks ago. It was delicious! If I made it again I would just use greek yoghurt and skip the buttermilk.
Christine, thanks, I’ve found all the Ottolenghi recipes very reliable and incredibly delicious! Chocolate icecream on its way – we finally have a recipe that doesn’t turn into rock in the freezer!
Anna, thank you for putting me onto the cookbook! You’ll be able to do so many things now you have the house.. :)
Amy, good luck with the move! I haven’t tried the eggplant recipe, but I’ll look out for it now I have your recco, thanks! :)
Just having eaten at Ottolenghi last week, it’s great to see that you have made something from his cookbook. I’m going to have to get myself a copy!!
How exciting, actually eating in the restaurant! :) The cookbooks are fabulous…