Salad with Marinated Sardines, Capers and Tomato Jam

I've been wanting to post this salad for a long time — it's one of my favourites. Some time before I started writing this blog of ours, I emailed this recipe to a friend, and I wanted to recover the text so I wouldn't have to rewrite it. Since that wasn't possible, here I am writing it again.

I'll start by saying this salad is an adaptation, to my taste, of one I've eaten several times at the Thalassa restaurant in Viver, one of my favourite restaurants.

As the name says, one of the main ingredients is sardines. I have to admit I don't much like cooking fish because, among other things, I hate cleaning it.

In a video by Ferran Adrià I learned a very simple way to fillet them. For this technique it's essential that the sardines are very fresh. Let's see if I can explain it, because it isn't easy (to explain — doing it is). Take the sardine as it is, scale it well and, without even gutting it, lay it on one side. On the other side, with a very sharp knife, cut the fillet from head to tail, as if you were going to cut it in half but without reaching the backbone; then turn it over and cut the other side. This way you're left with just the backbone with a bit of flesh, the head still attached and the tail.

This technique probably wastes a little more flesh than usual, which stays on the bone, but it makes the job much easier — and since we're not talking about lobster, it doesn't matter. The important thing is that you're at least 3 or 4 times faster preparing sardine fillets.

Preparing the sardines

Once you have the fillets, to marinate the sardines put a little salt in a plastic container, then sardine fillets on top. When the bottom of the container is covered, add salt again and another layer of sardines, this time perpendicular to the others; make a maximum of 3 layers. Once the sardines are well arranged, add apple vinegar (or a very mild sherry vinegar) to cover them, and give the container a shake so the vinegar soaks all the sardines. Leave them for 3 or 4 hours, then take them out and keep them in oil (like anchovies). The time will depend on the vinegar, the size of the sardines and your taste.

Preparing the salad

Put different kinds of lettuce and green shoots in a bowl, add finely chopped capers and pickled baby onions and a little oil, and toss well without breaking them. Put it on a plate and, as a further dressing, add some tomato jam on top. Then add the sardines, in pieces or whole so they can be seen, and enjoy a super-refreshing salad.

The acidity of the sardines, capers and onions stands out against the sweetness of the tomato jam. It's brilliant.

🌐 Llegeix aquesta recepta en català