Our local fishmongers is full of boquerones and sardines right now. Here’s another maki family recipe that will no doubt get a few outings over the next month or so.

Stuffed Sardines

Ingredients:
16 large sardines
65g breadcrumbs
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 soupspoons capers, drained and finely chopped
35g parmesan cheese, grated
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
fresh milled black pepper
juice of two lemons (to serve)

Method
Heat oven to 200ºC (Gas mark 6)
Grease an oven tray with a little olive oil.
Clean sardines, remove head and bones carefully. Wash and pat dry with kitchen paper.
Mix together the breadcrumbs, the crushed garlic, the capers, the parmesan and a little fresh milled black pepper and bind with the egg yolk.
Stuff the open sardines, pop them on the oven tray and bake for 20 minutes or until golden.

Can be served either hot or cold, doused with the lemon juice. Must be eaten with fingers, which are to be licked afterwards. A glass of cold White Ribeiro or Albariño is recommended. Failing that a dry Rueda would do.

The mixture can be prepared in advance and refrigerated (separately from the sardines). If you do this you will need to stuff the sardines an hour or so before baking them to get the right results – otherwise the mixture will be too cold.

This tapa always makes us think of the North of Spain, so here’s the piper Carlos Nuñez from Galicia playing a typical Muñeira with the Chieftans.