Sardinas escabechadas / Pickled sardines 🇪🇸 - 🇬🇧

Elaboración:

The word "escabeche" has its origin in the Arabic word "al-sikbāj", which refers to a popular method of preserving food in vinegar. This culinary technique spread to various regions, including Spain, where it became an integral part of our gastronomy.

The method for processing a pickled food is within the operations known in cooking as escabechado, and the technique basically consists of pre-cooking using a broth of vinegar, oil, wine, garlic, onion, bay leaf and peppercorns. It is a food preservation and preparation technique originating in Arab cuisine.

The star of this recipe is the sardine, so it is essential that it is of good quality. In this region of the Mediterranean, sardines are now a seasonal product. Currently, it is available at an affordable price and, if purchased at the central market of Alicante (Spain), as I did, they are fresh of the day. I bought them at 6.8 €/kg. As the fishing season progresses, prices are likely to decrease.

Ingredients used for this recipe: sardines, olive oil, onion, garlic, carrot, white wine, white wine vinegar, bay leaf, black peppercorns, sweet paprika and salt.

Preparation:
1- In a frying pan with olive oil, fry the garlic, onion and carrot.

2- While the vegetables are poached, clean the sardines, dredge them in flour and fry them in very hot olive oil. Only a few seconds on each side. You have to brown the flour without frying the sardines. I only coated half of the sardines. The other half I put them directly in the marinade, raw, they are stronger in flavor.

3- When the vegetables are poached, add the bay leaf and the spices. Thyme, sweet paprika and black pepper. Let it cook for a couple of minutes and add white wine and white wine vinegar in equal parts. Let it cook for 5 - 10 minutes so that the vinegar and wine reduce a little.

4- Finally, add the battered sardines and let them cook for about 5 minutes. With the fire off and still hot, add the rest of the sardines. Let them temper and place in the refrigerator for a minimum of a couple of hours, preferably 24 hours. In this way, the flavors are better integrated. They can be eaten cold or they can be taken out of the refrigerator a little earlier so that they can be tempered. I prefer to take them out of the refrigerator and allow them to temper first.

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