Fresh Tuesday

Casting for sardines

Hunting for sardines
Casting for sardines

Full of sardines

The gulls are catching food, the guys are catching bait. I see the glass overflowing because I like them for both food and bait. Yes, I'm one of those people who enjoy eating sardines (yep, anchovies too). Most of my life I ate the kind from the can, in olive oil, sometimes olive oil with peppers in them. Just opening that can with the key was the first challenge, yet another fallen pleasure to technology.

But that was then and that was how I ate sardines until I lived in Spain for awhile. When I order a glass of wine and along with it comes a plate loaded with fresh caught, flash fried whole sardines, I'm going for it (free tapas with drinks in Spain would be reason enough to live there for me, if it wasn't so cold there). These sardines were incredible.

Another way to cook fresh sardines is to grill them. The traditional way is to wrap them in grape leaves, but banana or plantain leaves would work just as well. You can also make a ceviche by marinating them in salt, olive oil and lemon juice. Some cultures add ginger, garlic and hot peppers to that marinade as well.

So how do you clean the little fellows? There are ways and there are ways. Here is one way. I know they didn't use this method where I was in Spain because the head was still on, but being a more impatient American, this method might work faster. Thanks, Vanessa Barrington!

Last but certainly first, if you want to get your own sardines (which are a type of herring, by the way). How to do that very elegant casting is, as so many things are these days, something you can learn on the internet. That's something you can learn, not experience, that's your job. There are a lot of videos on how to use a cast net but I like this one the best. Yes, he talks to us like we're a wee bit simple, but the results appear to be well worth it. Cast nets can cost anywhere from 20 dollars to over a hundred, depending on your wallet and your interest. Give it a try!

Buen provecho!