Sarde in Saor

Name: Sarde in Saor
Prep time: 185 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 235 min
Yield: 4 servings personer
Cuisine: italian
Ingredients: 1.2 kg fresh sardines, whole; 100 g all-purpose flour; 3 dl olive oil, for frying; salt; 1 kg white onions; 2 dl extra virgin olive oil; 2 dl white wine vinegar; 60 g golden raisins; 50 g pine nuts; 1 tsp salt; 250 g polenta meal, preferably fine and white; 1 l water; 1½ tsp salt; 2 tbsp olive oil, for the dish and the slices

Venetian marinated sardines — fried fish layered in a sweet-and-sour onion marinade with raisins and pine nuts, left to rest overnight.

🍽️ 4 servings personer⏱️ 3 h 55 min (3 h 5 min active)italian

The sardines are fried crisp, layered with the sweet-and-sour onion saor, and then given a full day in the fridge to mature. Meanwhile, polenta is cooked, also chilled, and only grilled crisp just before serving. The crucial part is that all the sardines are fully covered by onions and marinade while they mature.

Ingredients

The Sardines

1.2 kg fresh sardines, whole
100 g all-purpose flour
3 dl olive oil, for frying
salt

The Saor

1 kg white onions
2 dl extra virgin olive oil
2 dl white wine vinegar
60 g golden raisins
50 g pine nuts
1 tsp salt

The Polenta

250 g polenta meal, preferably fine and white
1 l water
1½ tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil, for the dish and the slices

How to make it

Clean the sardines: snap off the head and pull out the innards with it. Split the fish open along the belly and work the backbone free from tail to head, so you're left with two connected fillets. Rinse them briefly and pat them completely dry, since wet fish will shed its flour coating in the oil. ⏱ 30 min
Chef's tip Fresh sardines have bright, domed eyes and fillets that feel firm. If the flesh is mushy under your fingers, it won't hold up to frying. Keep them cold right up until they go into the flour.
Cut the onions into thin half-rings about 2 mm thick. The thinner the slices, the softer they'll collapse in the saor. ⏱ 10 min
Put the raisins in a bowl with lukewarm tap water and let them soak for 20 minutes, until plump and soft between your fingers. Gently squeeze the water out of them. ⏱ 20 min · passive
Warm the extra virgin olive oil in a large, wide pan over low heat. Add the onions and let them cook for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until completely soft and translucent without taking on any color. They must not brown, since the saor should taste sweet of onion, not of caramel. ⏱ 40 min
Chef's tip Keep it at a faint whisper, not a sizzle — the onions should sweat water out before their sugars can brown. If the pan starts to hiss or edges turn gold, drop the heat and add a splash of water.
Pour the white wine vinegar over the soft onions and season with the salt for the saor. Let it reduce for 6 minutes, until the sharpest vinegar fumes are gone and the onions sit in a glossy, lightly syrupy marinade.
Chef's tip The reduction drives off the sharpest acetic vapour — lean over the pan and it should smell rounded rather than nose-stinging. Stop while the onions still sit in liquid; boiled dry, there is no marinade left to soak the fish.
Fold the soaked raisins and pine nuts into the warm onions and take the pan off the heat.
Flour the fillets one batch at a time, just before they go into the pan: toss them in the flour and shake off the excess, so only a thin, dry coating remains. Floured fish that stands and waits draws moisture and the coating turns gummy instead of crisp.
Heat the frying oil in a pan to 175°C, so a pinch of flour sizzles instantly. Fry the fillets in four batches, turned once partway through, and lift them out the moment the coating is golden and crisp at the edges — they are thin and go dry if they stay in the oil past that point. Set them on paper towels and salt them immediately while hot — this is the only salting they'll get. ⏱ 8 min–10 min
Spread a thin layer of onions in the bottom of a deep dish. Lay half the fried fillets tightly side by side on top and cover them completely with onions and marinade. Repeat with the rest of the fish and finish with a layer of onions, so no fish pokes up — it's the marinade that matures the dish. ⏱ 10 min
Chef's tip Use a dish of glass, ceramic or stainless steel — the vinegar attacks aluminium and turns the flavour metallic over the course of a day. Press the layers gently together so no air pockets sit around the fish.
Cover the dish and refrigerate until the next day (see advance prep), so the vinegar can penetrate the fish and the onions round out in flavor.
Bring the water to a boil in a thick-bottomed pot with the salt for the polenta. Sprinkle the polenta meal into the pot in a thin stream while whisking, until the mixture is smooth and completely free of lumps. ⏱ 10 min
Chef's tip Lumps can only be whisked out in the first few minutes, while the starch hasn't set yet; after that they stay put as mealy little kernels. Keep the water at a rolling boil while you sprinkle.
Cook the polenta over low heat for 40 minutes, scraping the bottom every couple of minutes, until it pulls away from the pot and a spoon can stand up in it. ⏱ 40 min
Chef's tip Forty minutes is about the grain fully swelling and losing its raw, chalky edge — taste a little and it should be smooth, not gritty. Scrape right into the corners of the pot, where it scorches first.
Grease a dish with the olive oil and pour the hot polenta out in a layer about 1.5 cm thick. Smooth the surface with a wet dough scraper while the mixture is still pourable.
Let the polenta cool and set in the fridge until the next day (see advance prep), so it firms up enough to be cut into slices.
Take the dish of saor out of the fridge 30 minutes before serving, until the fish and onions are cool rather than ice-cold. The cold mutes both the vinegar and the sweetness. ⏱ 30 min · passive
Cut the set polenta into finger-thick slices and brush them with the olive oil. Grill them in two batches on a very hot grill pan, 6-8 minutes per batch, turned once, until they have dark grill marks and a crisp crust. ⏱ 10 min–15 min
Chef's tip The pan must be smoking-hot before the slices go on, and then leave them alone — polenta releases only once a crust has formed, so lifting early tears the face off the slice. Wait for it to loosen on its own.
Divide the fillets among four flat plates and spoon a generous amount of the onions, raisins and pine nuts over them along with the marinade. Set the grilled polenta slices alongside. The dish is eaten cold or at room temperature, with the polenta slices used as scoops to gather up the onions and marinade.