SUMMER OF SARDINES

One of summer's pleasures in Spain is eating fresh sardines, roasted on a fire in the salt air at the seaside.  The sardines are speared on skewers stuck into the sand in front of the flames and grilled until crackly. The aroma is irresistible, tantalizing.  You pick them up in your fingers and eat the flesh off the bones.  Accompanied by icy, cold beer and chunks of fresh bread to absorb the drips, sardines make a memorable meal, to be followed by a plunge in the sea and a siesta on the warm sand.
   
Spanish humorist and commentator on life, Julio Camba, once wrote that with sardines, you should never eat fewer than a dozen, "but watch how you eat them, where you eat them and with whom you eat them."  Sardines, he added, are not to be consumed at home with the virtuous wife, but out with a shameless hussy not afraid to get her fingers greasy.  "People once united in eating sardines together, will never be able to mutually respect each other again, so, when you, dear reader, wish to organize a sardine fest, choose well your accomplices."

This is because the pungent salty-smoky smell of grilled sardines clings to ones fingers, chin, moustach and clothes long after the feast is finished.  During the summer sardinada, sardine festival, in La Coruña (northern Spain), doormen at nightclubs and discos are said to spray revelers with air freshener before letting them in.

Sardines, plentiful both in the south (Mediterranean) and the north (Atlantic and Bay of Biscay), are of the blue fish family, related to herring. They are a greenish-blue touched with gold, with a silvery belly. Sardines never get much bigger than 8 inches (20cm), though smaller ones are also appreciated. (La mujer y la sardina, cuanto mas chica, mas fina—Women and sardines, the smaller the better.)

SARDINAS ASADAS
Grilled Sardines

Sardines grilled on the beach in Málaga are called espetones, for the split-cane skewers; in Cádiz, they're sardinadas; in Granada, moraga; in Galicia, where the fire might be fueled with wild gorse, aspetu.  You can grill them on the terrace at home on an ordinary charcoal grill.  A hinged double grill is useful for grilling sardines. Instead of turning each sardine, you flip the whole grill over. The sardines can also be grilled on a plancha, a flat grill pan or griddle.

Sardines to be grilled must be absolutely fresh.  Leave them whole, ungutted and unscaled. Sprinkle them with salt about 30 minutes before cooking.  For added flavor, place branches or twigs of fresh herbs such as bay, thyme, rosemary or fennel on the coals. When coals are hot, brush the grill with oil and preheat it before placing sardines on it. Brush them with olive oil.  Cook on both sides.  Serve hot off the grill.

If cooking on a plancha, drizzle the sardines with olive oil and brush the plancha lightly with oil. Sprinkle coarse salt on the griddle and preheat it. Lay the sardines on the hot plancha. Turn them once to brown both sides. They’re done when browned—3 to 4 minutes per side.

To eat the sardines, flake off any loose scales, then, holding the sardine at both ends, eat the flesh off one side, turn and eat the other side, discarding the head, spine and viscera. Allow at least a dozen per person.  Instead of plates, use slabs of bread or, as in Galicia, corn bread or cachelos, potatoes boiled in their skins, on which to serve the sardines.

If you have leftovers, strip off skin and discard bones. Marinate the flesh in a good vinaigrette and serve as an hors d'oeuvre with sliced hard-cooked egg and thinly sliced onion.




Stuffed Sardines
Sardinas Rellenas

For this recipe, you have to fillet the sardines. Really fresh sardines are easier to fillet if you first soak them in salted ice water for 60 minutes. Working on several thicknesses of newspaper, slide off the scales from the tail to the head. Cut off the heads and remove the guts. Grasp the top of the spine between thumb and forefinger. With the thumb and forefinger of the other hand, loosen the flesh around the spine and draw it down, “unzipping” the fillets as you go. Use kitchen scissors to cut away the spine, leaving the two fillets attached on the dorsal side and at the tail.

Serves 4 to 6 as a starter.

16 to 18 fresh sardines (about 1 ½ pounds)
¾  cup fine fresh breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons chopped serrano ham (½ ounce)
1 tablespoon minced scallion
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
½ teaspoon minced fresh fennel leaves
1 tablespoon chopped currants or raisins
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 eggs beaten with 1 tablespoon water
¾ cup flour
olive oil for frying (about ½ cup)

Remove heads and guts from sardines. Butterfly them and remove spines, leaving two fillets attached along the dorsal fin and at the tail . Rinse and pat them dry.

Combine the breadcrumbs, ham, scallion, parsley, fennel and currants in a bowl. Stir in the lemon juice, salt and pepper. Add 2 tablespoons of the beaten eggs to the breadcrumb mixture.

Spread ½ cup flour in a shallow pan. Place remaining beaten egg in a shallow bowl.

Working with one sardine at a time, spread it open on work surface. Use about 1 ½ teaspoons stuffing mixture. Press it firmly on one side of the sardine. Fold the other half over and press to seal. Place the sardines as stuffed in the pan of flour.

When all sardines have been stuffed, sprinkle them with remaining ¼ cup of flour. Roll them gently to coat them on all sides. Dip the sardines into beaten egg, taking care to coat the open side. Return to the pan of flour. Roll them gently to coat with flour.

Heat enough oil to cover the bottom of skillet to a depth of ¼ inch. Fry the sardines in batches, turning them to brown on all sides, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove to drain on paper towels. Serve hot.

GAZPACHO FROM THE GARDEN

My gazpacho garden is about to bear fruit. Summer’s sun is turning the tomatoes crimson. They’ll soon be gloriously ripe and sweet. I’ve got the first crinkly, thin-skinned  green peppers and fat cucumbers as well as onions and garlic harvested earlier. A jug of my own extra virgin olive oil, a chunk of stale bread and tangy lemon juice complete the ingredient list for the season’s first gazpacho.

My favorite recipes plus some great photos are in the food pages of today's LOS ANGELES TIMES (The Gazpacho Variations). You'll find recipes for classic Garden Gazpacho, a garnish of cucumber granita (that's in the above photo); White Gazpacho with Grapes (ajo blanco con uvas); White Gazpacho with Pine Nuts; Gazpacho with Avocado, and Gazpacho Cream (salmorejo cordobés).

Get a jump on the season--enjoy!

INGREDIENTS FOR CLASSIC GAZPACHO. JUST ADD OLIVE OIL AND BREAD FOR THICKENING.

FOOD CRITICS, JUNIOR DIVISION

“GranJan, you’re a good cooker,” said my six-year-old grandson Leo. Observing that the kid really liked tuna, really liked pasta, I guessed that a summer pasta salad was likely to hit the spot with him. His dad, Ben, suggested that I was “a good cook,” not a “cooker”. But, hey, I’ll take all compliments with a smile.

The critics were not so easy on me a week later, when the other set of grandkids arrived. Anticipating hungry children and parents after a delayed trans-Atlantic  flight, I prepared what I thought was a sure-fire kid-pleaser, a classic Spanish tortilla de patatas, potato tortilla (potatoes slow-fried in olive oil with a little onion and eggs to set the mixture into a thick, round cake).

Nico, two and a half years old, hungrily took a bite and, blech, out it all came down the front of his shirt. Lucas, five years old, tried it and also rejected it, if rather more politely. Their father, my son Daniel, who grew up on tortilla, happily ate most of it. “Heinz catsup,” he said. “Needs catsup.”  (Confession: I served catsup with tortilla when they were kids. I was not after authenticity.)

Figuring to go with a winner, the next day I tried them on the tuna-mac salad that their cousin liked. Again, instant rejection. “It’s the chopped onion in it,” said Daniel. “They’re purists—pasta and nothing.”

I fared somewhat better when I took Lucas with me to the huerta to pick strawberries, green beans, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, onions and lemons. He was happy to slice the zucchini, which I sauteed with cherry tomatoes. Hold the onions; keep the fresh basil on the side where it could be easily ignored. And he astounded me by eating wedges of lemon.

It turned out that little Nico had an appetite for almost everything, as long as there were no onions. Pork, chicken, fish, asparagus, broccoli. A dab of mayonnaise was his gourmet sauce. Perhaps I’ll try that tortilla again one day before they leave.





Tortilla de Patatas
Potato Tortilla

Some tapa bars present super-size tortillas, almost 2 feet in diameter and more than 3 inches thick. They are cut into thick squares and served with bread. Tortilla also makes a nice supper dish and is terrific packed in a picnic hamper. In Spain, tortilla is rarely served with a sauce, but might be paired with a juicy vegetable dish such as pisto (recipe here ). Of course, you could always serve it with catsup or mayonnaise!

Makes 12 tapas or 4 main dishes.

½ cup olive oil
2 pounds potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons chopped onion (optional)     
6 eggs
1 teaspoon salt

Heat the oil in a no-stick or well-seasoned 9-inch skillet. Add the sliced potatoes and turn them in the oil. Let them cook slowly in the oil, without browning, turning frequently. If using onions, add them when the potatoes are partially cooked. The potatoes will take 20 to 30 minutes to cook.

Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a bowl with the salt.

When potatoes are tender, place a large plate on top of the skillet. Tilt the pan so the oil runs to one side. Holding the plate tightly, carefully tip the pan and drain the oil into a small heatproof bowl. Stir the potatoes into the beaten eggs.

Return a spoonful of oil to the pan over medium heat. Pour in the egg-potato mixture. Spread it evenly. Reduce heat and cook, without stirring, until the tortilla is set on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Do not allow the bottom to brown too much. You can shake the pan occasionally to make sure the tortilla doesn’t stick on the bottom.

Again, place the plate on top of the pan. Working over a bowl to catch any drips, hold the plate tightly in place and turn the pan upside down, reversing the tortilla onto the plate. Slide the tortilla back into the frying pan. Let it cook on the bottom, 2 minutes.

Lift the front edge of the tortilla and carefully slide it out of the pan onto a serving dish or cutting board. Cut into squares to serve as a tapa or into wedges if serving as a lunch dish. Serve hot or room temperature.