Sarde in Saor
Venice's most ancient dish — sarde in saor, fried sardines marinated in a sweet-and-sour (agrodolce) sauce of onions softened in vinegar with raisins and pine nuts. A medieval Venetian preservation technique (saor means "flavour" in Venetian dialect). The dish must rest at least 24 hours — it improves dramatically. Serves as a cicchetto in bacari (Venetian wine bars).
- Total
- 35 min
- Serves
- 6
- Level
- Medium
Prep 15 min · Cook 20 min
Ingredients
Method
Dust sardines in flour; fry in hot oil until golden and crispy. Drain; season with salt.
About 4 min
Sauté onions in olive oil over medium-low heat for 20 minutes until very soft and sweet.
About 9 min
Add vinegar and wine to the onions; add bay leaf, peppercorns; simmer 5 minutes. Add sultanas, pine nuts, sugar; stir.
About 9 min
In a deep dish, layer sardines and the hot saor marinade alternately; finish with saor on top. Press down gently.
About 9 min
Cool; cover; refrigerate minimum 24 hours, ideally 48. Serve at room temperature. The sweet-sour onion-marinated sardine is one of the oldest flavour combinations in Italy.
About 3 min
Nutrition per serving (estimate)
- Calories
- 380
- Protein
- 26 g
- Carbs
- 22 g
- Fat
- 22 g
- Fibre
- 2 g
- Sugar
- 10 g
- Sodium
- 440 mg
Contains: gluten, nuts, fish
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Recipe by Boon Tools.