Tinned sardines: ooh a little storecupboard miracle

Right: I want you to try this. It is what we had for tea last night and I cooked it because I needed to be convinced that it would work. I got the idea from Vicky Bhojal's very jolly book Cooking with Mummyji, where she has a recipe for pan fried (tinned) sardines. Now, I had eaten sardines with spices before, but they had been fresh fish, not the little guys from a tin. So try this and see if you like it. I think it's great and it is also incredibly easy -- hardly even cooking.

Spiced sardines, done in the oven. For Susie Freeman. tell me if you think it works!

For two, take 2 tins of sardines in oil. Drain off most of the oil. Now, put the sardines in a baking dish in a hot oven, having sprinkled over big fat pinches of ground cumin, coriander, freshly ground black pepper, just a few flakes of sea salt, a cautious pinch of red chilli flakes (or not, if you are me) and, I think, a pinch of asofoetida if you have it. Into the oven they go and, while you wait for them to cook and crisp, you have time to cook a pan of basmati rice. When the sardines smell fabulous and look crisp and glowing, take them out, serve them on your rice and scatter them with fresh coriander and a dollop or fresh yoghurt. That's it.

Well, actually, that could be it but because I am the sort of person who has to use up every last leftover bit of potato or spoonful of peas, I should say that I actually cooked these on top of a few leftover roast potatoes and, err, peas. I chopped the potatoes into tiny chunks and spiced the somewhat meagre helping of vegetables with the same mixture I put on the sardines. It does strike me, though, that this sardine dish would do very well cooked on a base of spiced and crisp (and already cooked) potato. Try it some time.

Thanks to Tim Parkinson at www.flickr.com for the tins!