Roasted Sardines Recipe

Roasted Sardines

serves 2-4

My mother would cook literally a hundred or more sardines at once—enough for everyone at the table to have at least twenty. Their high oil content means any leftover sardines can be reheated without drying out.

Read more about this recipe in Efisio Farris' Sweet Myrtle & Bitter Honey: The Mediterranean Flavors of Sardinia.

2 pounds fresh sardines, with scales rubbed off
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1/4 cup Vernaccia wine (or other dry white wine)

prep: 15 minutes
total: 25 minutes

sheet pan
small bowl
whisk

1. Clean sardines thoroughly, making sure to remove the gills and insides. (Or, you can ask your fishmonger to do this.) Rinse under running water to wash off scales or remaining blood.

2. Preheat oven to 350F. Coat the bottom of a sheet pan with half of the extra virgin olive oil. Place sardines parallel to one another on the sheet pan, close but not touching one another. Evenly sprinkle garlic and parsley over the sardines.

3. In a small bowl, combine remaining extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice. Drizzle evenly over the sardines. Sprinkle with the sea salt.

4. Place in the oven and cook for 5 minutes. Pour white wine over sardines and finish cooking in the oven for 5 minutes longer.

For more recipes by Efisio Farris, buy Sweet Myrtle & Bitter Honey.