R E C I P E S

Sardele in Saor (Sweet-and-Sour Sardines)

By Edward Behr

Venetian sardele in saor is a typical summer dish, eaten either as a cicheto, a snack, or as a main course. As Catalan escabetx, frying the fish and adding vinegar preserves them for a short time. Fresh sardines are one of the “blue” fish of the Mediterranean that have more fat and stronger flavor than other species. They were always poor people’s food, never expensive. Before the sardines are floured and fried, they’re sometimes dipped in egg, but they’re never battered. Venetians prefer the light taste of vegetable oil, but light-tasting olive oil would be as good or better. Nowadays the oil from frying the fish is discarded, and fresh oil is added for the onions. Older recipes call for pine nuts and raisins and sometimes also cinnamon or mixed spices. Today in Venetian restaurants, you sometimes find scampi in saor: a “corruption,” a Venetian once told me. He didn’t think it was wrong but “strange,” because the taste of shrimp is too delicate for a saor. The sardines (or shrimp) are marinated in the sauce for at least 24 hours, and I was assured at one Venetian bàcaro, a neighborhood bar serving cicheti, that its sardele always marinate for at least a week. If you use another kind of blue fish (outside the Mediterranean, probably mackerel or the species called bluefish), choose small ones or cut them into pieces, so the sauce penetrates. Red-wine vinegar gives a deeper color (but red wine in place of white can stain the fish purple). Raisins and pine nuts are in theory only used in winter, but they taste good at any time.

 

2 pounds (1 kilo) whole fresh sardines, scaled and gutted

all-purpose flour

excellent, fresh- and light-tasting olive oil or another good, light cooking oil

salt

2 pounds (1 kg) sweet onions, sliced extremely thin

about ½ cup (125 ml) red- or white-wine vinegar

¼ cup (60 ml) white wine

several bay leaves

black pepper

a spoonful of sugar, if needed

a small handful (50 gr) of raisins, soaked for a few hours in water or white wine and then drained

a small handful (50 gr) of pine nuts

  

Rinse and dry the sardines well and flour them lightly. Pour enough oil into a nonreactive frying pan to cover the bottom. Fry the fish over medium-high heat, turning and salting, until they are just done — 4 or 5 minutes. Remove them to a platter to cool.

Wipe the oil from the frying pan and add fresh. Cook the onions in it gently, stirring now and then, until they are soft but not at all colored — 10 to 15 minutes. (If the onions seem dry, as they often do before a new crop is ready, cover the pan or add a little water.) Add the vinegar, wine, and bay leaves, and bring to a boil. Season this sauce with salt, pepper, and, if needed, sugar, depending on the sweetness of the onions and the acidity of the vinegar. Add the raisins and the pine nuts.

Choose a glass, glazed ceramic, or stainless-steel pan that will hold the fish in 2 or 3 layers. Spread onion sauce thinly in the bottom and then add a layer of sardines; spread with onions again, and continue, packing the fish closely together and surrounding them with onion. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 day before eating; keeps for 3 days. Eat cool or tepid, not cold. Serves 4 as a main course.

From The Art of Eating Cookbook