Our friend and regular customer Christian Lohse has published a cookbook with soups and stews from around the world with Umschau, “Lohses Mundwerk”. Right in the middle of this collection, on page 185, he has smuggled in a recipe that is not a soup at all, and even writes himself: “not a soup, but awesome”. What delights us most is that he apparently eats sardines in tapenade just as much as we do. Strictly speaking, this is not a recipe, but a serving suggestion for advanced users. We have recreated it, and it works.
Brittany meets Provence · Starter or apéro
Sardines in olive paste
There is little cooking involved here: blanch, sear, plate. The effort is in the cleaning and cutting, the rest is done in fifteen minutes. Perfect as a starter, as an apéro for four, or as a light dinner for two.
Ingredients
For 2–4 people
Preparation
The vegetables
1
Clean the fennel bulb and blanch it in lightly salted water until al dente. Cut the green tops into pieces about 2 cm long, and set the white part aside.
2
Blanch the spring onions briefly as well, halve them lengthwise, and fry them in a little olive oil until the ends are dark.
3
Add the confit tomatoes as they are to the pan and fry until crispy. Halve fresh tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, and fry in olive oil until they break down.
4
Roughly chop the basil leaves and add them to the pan with the tomatoes.
Plating
5
Arrange the sardines with the tapenade on one or more plates.
6
Sprinkle the fennel, spring onions, and tomatoes over the top, drizzle with balsamic vinegar, and season with Piment d'Espelette.
Tip
There is some white fennel flesh left over, and it is too good to throw away. Finely sliced with cocktail tomatoes, basil, olive oil, lemon, Fleur de Sel, and pepper, it makes a salad for the next day. By the way, this dish does not need bread, but it does need a glass of wine.
“Lohses Mundwerk” by Christian Lohse was published in 2015 by Umschau Verlag.
The wooden board in the photos is a unique piece made from American walnut, handcrafted by Arnd Seibert of Ovaso.
