CRUMBED SARDINE SANDWICH

SERVES 2

Who doesn’t love a crumbed fish sandwich on soft white bread? It’s important to fry the sardines in ghee in a pan rather then deep-frying, as the flavour is much better and the degree of cooking is easier to control. Yoghurt tartare sauce could be substituted for a hot sauce or mayonnaise, if you like. This sandwich is so versatile and a number of different fish work perfectly here, including herring, whiting, bream or flathead.

150g plain flour

4 eggs, lightly whisked 120g white panko breadcrumbs 8 x 60g sardines, scaled, gutted

and butterflied

70g ghee sea salt flakes and freshly

cracked black pepper

4 slices soft white bread yoghurt tartare sauce, hot sauce

or mayonnaise, to serve

Start by flouring, egg washing and crumbing the butterflied sardines, being sure to leave the tails of the fish uncrumbed. Heat the ghee in a frying pan over a high heat and cook the crumbed sardines, in batches, on one side for 1 minute, or until golden and crisp, then flip to the other side and fry for a further 10–20 seconds. Remove from the pan and season liberally.

Cut the crusts off the bread. Spread some of the sauce over two of the slices of bread from edge to edge, then arrange four sardines on top. Add the remaining sauce on top and then the remaining slices of bread. Serve with the golden edges of the sardine showing around the edges of the bread and the little tails exposed at one end.