Baked Sardines with Lemon Crumb Recipe

This dish never fails to remind us on sunny days by the Mediterranean Sea. Delicious baked sardines with a zingy lemon crumb, this dish is delicious served with grilled green peppers and served as part of a lunch or dinner feast or as shared tapas. Make sure you get the best quality, fresh sardines from your fishmonger to really bring out the flavors of the sea.

Ingredients

Recipe and images, Jo O’Keefe for ele Magazine

12-16 sardines (allow 3-4 per person), gutted, scaled, and heads removed
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground fennel seeds
2 cloves of garlic, minced finely
1 cup fresh chopped parsley
Olive oil
2 green capsicums (bell peppers) – optional
Lemon wedges, for serving

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Line a flat tray with baking paper and drizzle a little olive oil over the paper.
2. In a bowl, mix together the fresh breadcrumbs, minced garlic, lemon zest and juice, chopped parsley, ground fennel seeds, salt and pepper to make the lemon crumbs.
3. Cook the green capsicums over a flame until they blister. Remove the skin, discard the seeds and membranes, and slice the capsicums into strips.
   Take each sardine and slightly open it. Stuff some of the lemon crumb mixture inside, pressing some onto both sides of the sardines. It doesn’t need to be neat.
4. Place the stuffed sardines flat on to the prepared tray, arranging them close together. Sprinkle any extra crumb mixture over the top of the sardines. Drizzle them generously with olive oil.
5. Bake the sardines in the preheated oven for approximately 10-15 minutes, or until the crumbs turn golden and the sardines are cooked through.
6. Once baked, transfer the sardines to a serving platter. Serve them with lemon wedges and the green peppers. Enjoy!