Stuffed sardines with feta
50 min
Sardines are in season from spring until early autumn so enjoy them at their best, stuffed with herby breadcrumbs and creamy feta cheese.
Maggie Pannell
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Ingredients
Serves: 4
- 12 plump sardines, scaled, gutted and heads removed
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 40g slightly stale, white breadcrumbs
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 40g feta cheese
- salt
- lemon wedges to garnish
Method
Prep:40min ›
Cook:10min ›
Ready in:50min
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (gas 6). Slit the sardines open lengthways using a sharp knife. Remove the central backbone (see below), leaving the tail fin attached. Rinse and dry the fish. Place them opened out, flesh-side-up, on the work surface, and season lightly with salt.
- Mix the parsley and garlic with the breadcrumbs. Add the egg and mix everything together.
- Fold back over to reshape the sardines, press them down firmly, then crumble over the feta. Fold back over to reshape the sardines, then arrange them in a single layer in a lightly greased baking dish.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Serve piping hot garnished with lemon wedges for diners to squeeze over.
COOK SMART
To remove the backbone from the sardines, simply place the fish on a board, skin side up, then press down along the length of the bone to loosen it. Turn fish over, snip the bone at the tail end and tease it out, removing any small stray bones with a pair of kitchen tweezers.
