Sunday Food

Scored some amazing fresh sardines from Phil's Fish Market in Moss Landing, so it's tapas night...

Er, well, I thought it was. Chef Tom had other ideas...

1. Fried sardines with green beans and parsnip.
   
   The sardines were butterflied, seasoned with salt, & dusted with cornstarch before frying.
   
   The beans were blanched, cold-shocked, & cut into 1-2" pieces and tossed with soy sauce, sesame oil & sesame seeds.
   
   The parsnips were cut into 2x.5x.5" strips & blanched in salted water and cold shocked.
   
   They were served centered on a plate, with a small stack of beans & parsnips on opposite sides of the fish. The fish was topped with a lemon-peanut oil-chile pepper marinade and topped with some thinly-sliced onion. Ideally, would be served with the fish room temperature, but we couldn't wait. ;-)

Wine:

1. Rabbit Ridge Blanc de Noir

Sardines?!?

"Sardines, those don't sound very interesting, " my dad said when I asked the guy behind the counter if he had any. (They didn't have any on display, but they were on the menu, so I figured it was worth a shot.) Although I have fond memories of eating canned sardines & saltines with my grandpa, I could see where my dad was coming from. If you've never had *fresh* sardines, you really haven't had sardines. (Don't get me wrong, you can get some pretty tasty canned sardines--we're partial to the Albo Sardinillas (baby sardines)--but they still pale in comparison to the real deal.)

Although Monterey and sardines were once synonymous, it can be difficult to get them fresh even in the bay area. They show up occasionally on Japanese & Spanish-influenced restaurant menus, but just aren't popular with home chefs. I've never seen ones as good as at Phil's. They are a little tedious to deal with, but they really don't require a lot of prep. Be sure to scale them well when you clean them, though--the skin is good, but not if you get a mouthful of scales. Tom debones them when he butterflies them, but they can be grilled whole and the bones come out easily when they're cooked. If you split them open, you can strip out most of the bones with your fingers, but don't worry about the ones left behind. When fried, they just add some extra crunch.