A friend once set a platter of sardine toasts on her table with the confidence of someone serving roast chicken, and I remember deciding she had made a mistake. I walked past the canned fish aisle like people walk past the open fridge of a stranger. I took a quick look but didn’t make contact. Then, I ate one. Then I ate four. By the end of the night I’d already asked twice what brand of sardines they were and had written it on my hand.
This dish is called toast. It takes eight minutes to make (using a meal from a can), and it may look generous but sounds austere. The ingredients include slightly burnt bread, garlic toast, good olive oil, a ripe tomato, some flaked sardines, a few sharp hits from some red onion and capers, and a handful of torn parsley.
I’ve done this with skeptics, and I have done this with myself standing at the counter with a drink, and once I did this for some in-laws who ‘happened to be passing by’ at 7:30. It has bailed me out every time.
Contents
Before You Start: The Gist
- What you’re making: Warm toasted country bread with garlic and olive oil, topped with ripe tomatoes, sardines, red onion, capers, and parsley.
- Why it works: You really don’t need to cook, just arrange some items, and let good olive oil, and quality tin sardines do the work for you, along with some great bread.
- Timing: Toasting takes the longest since it is finished in 8 minutes.
- Flavor profile: Salty, savory, and briny, with bright tomato, mellow garlic, and a rich hit of good olive oil.
- Key tips: Toast the bread really well, put it together at the very end, and go heavy with the olive oil.
- Best uses: Quick weeknight meal for 2, no prep summer lunch, and a surprisingly classy appetizer with chilled rosé.
Ingredients
The groceries do all the work for you on this one. It’s worth spending a little extra on the bread, olive oil, and the tin of sardines (for the best flavor!).
Master Ratio (Easy To Scale)
- 2 thick slices country bread or sourdough (about 3/4 inch thick)
- 1 garlic clove, halved
- 2 to 3 tablespoons good olive oil
- 1 ripe tomato, sliced
- Kosher salt
- 1 tin oil-packed sardines (about 4.4 oz), drained lightly and flaked
- 2 tablespoons thinly sliced red onion
- 1 tablespoon capers, drained
- Torn flat-leaf parsley, a generous handful
- Black pepper, to finish (optional)
Scale by multiples. One tin will feed 2 slices and 3 if you are really stretching it.
Ingredient Choices That Change Flavor
- Bread: I prefer using sourdough since it has a nice subtle tang with some good chewy texture. Both country loaf and ciabatta are fine too. Just don’t use soft sandwich bread; the toast needs some structure!
- Olive oil: Use the nice bottle. The one with the peppery and green taste. This is the moment.
- Sardines: Trustworthy brands that offer whole or fillet oil-packed (Spanish, Portuguese, or good quality California) are fine.
- Tomato: Tomatoes in summer are literally the best and are essential for any recipe. They have to be perfect, however, as summer tomatoes should be fresh and ripe. For winter recipes, I’d suggest cherry tomatoes over supermarket slicers, as they tend to be way better than their larger counterparts.
- Capers: Brined ones are good. Salt-packed ones are fantastic, but be sure to rinse them first if you have some.
- Parsley: Flat-leaf. Tear, don’t chop.
For Serving (Optional, but Highly Encouraged)
- A wedge of lemon at the table
- Flaky sea salt to sprinkle at the very end
- Use Espelette or Aleppo pepper in place of black pepper
- A glass of chilled rosé, vinho verde, or a refreshing pilsner
Instructions
This is mostly just a sequence of actions rather than a plan. Only toast the bread when you plan on eating. Ten minutes is long enough for a perfectly warm toast to transform into a sad toast and it shifts from perfect to sad in roughly ten minutes.
1) Brown the bread. It is the best if the slices turn a golden brown with firm texture and slight char on the edges. It does not matter if you use a pop up toaster, toaster oven, broiled, or just a dry skillet. All you need is enough structure so the bread doesn’t go limp under the wet toppings and a little char on the edges. That char is what you will use to shred the garlic.
2) Regarding garlic and olive oil. While the toast is still warm, take a halved garlic clove and rub the cut side of the garlic against the toast. The garlic will break off and infuse into the bread. Then, drizzle the toast with some nice olive oil as if you are seasoning the bread and not anointing it.
3) Tomato. Cut the tomato into pieces about 1/4 inch thick. Place them on the toast and season with a pinch of kosher salt. Salt will draw out some moisture that will soak into the bread and act like a vinaigrette.
4) The next step is to prepare the capers, parsley, onion, and sardines. Lightly drain the sardines, and do not drain them completely. Use a fork to flake them. Please do not create a total mash, try to keep some larger pieces. Spread this over the tomato. Spread the onion rings, then the capers, and then the ripped parsley. Do not cover anything, let the layers be exposed.
5) Finish by adding a drizzle of olive oil and some black pepper if you’d like. At this stage, a little flaky salt is acceptable and it will taste really good.
6) It is best savored right away. Warm tints and crispy edges of the toast are what make this dinner special. Its charm can be found in the fact that it cannot be made in advance. You will be needed for approximately 8 minutes.
Variations Worth Trying
- Anchovy version: Replace the sardines with anchovy filets packed in oil. Use about half as many anchovy filets because they are twice as savory as sardines.
- Smoked trout or mackerel: Both beautiful exchanges. Smoked trout gives this a mildly Scandinavian feel and I’m not mad about it.
- Avocado base: The toast should have half a smashed ripe avocado before the tomato. Very distinctly not-Mediterranean. It’s our secret.
- Egg-topped: Adding a fried or jammy egg on top makes this a heartier dinner option.
Rounding Out the Plate
- Drinks: Sparkling Water with a fat lemon wedge, A Crisp Pilsner, Dry Rosé, or Vinho Verde.
- Side salad: Bitter greens (like arugula and frisée) drizzled with olive oil and lemon. Or sliced cucumber sprinkled with salt. Very European grandmother of you!
- For company: Present your toast cut in half and placed in a diagonal pattern along with a few other extras around the board. Boom! It’s a dinner party!
- Make it lunch: Pair with chilled cucumber soup in the summer and a cup of brothy tomato soup in the colder weather.
Trouble Spots and Tips
- The toast got soggy. Next time, toast more and assemble it as close to serving as possible. The bread should resemble croutons more than they do sandwich bread.
- Too fishy. Make sure to drain the tin of sardines fully, use a right tomato, and at the end, double the amount of parsley and lemon.
- Garlic too aggressive. Rub more gently. Half a stroke will do, and you can always add more on the second toast.
- Onion too sharp. Soak the sliced onion for 5 minutes in cold water, and pat dry. Takes the bite down without losing the crunch.
Storage, Reheating, and Nutrition
Every piece of toast has about 350 to 450 calories depending on how much oil is used and how thick the bread is. Each tin contains about 23 grams of protein, which comes with healthy fats and a good amount of omega 3s. The tiny bones that are in the sardine tins are crunchy and provide a little bit of calcium.
This meal is not a leftover. Construct only what you plan to eat in the next ten minutes. An opened tin of sardines should be moved to a glass container to be kept in the fridge for 2 to 3 days. It takes 15 seconds for toasts to turn rubbery.
Real Runs of This Recipe
This recipe also changes with the seasons:
- High-summer version: It feels good to eat outside with a nice glass of rosé while enjoying the heirloom tomatoes, basil (instead of parsley) and a little extra olive oil on the meal. Really living the dream.
- Cold-weather version: Yummy roasted cherry tomatoes (which I toss with some oil and salt then roast at 425°F for 15 min) plus some warm toast with smoked trout and a squeeze of lemon. Cozy and a bit more effort.
- Pantry-rescue version: It’s 9 PM and the only food you have is a tin of sardines and some old bread. Don’t worry! This recipe forgives all of that!
The Checklist
- Pick up the following ingredients: thick country bread, ripe tomato, oil-packed sardines, parsley, red onion, capers, lemon, and your good olive oil.
- Lightly char and firm up the edges of the toast.
- Rub a garlic clove on the warm toast and sprinkle some olive oil on it.
- Layer tomato, salt lightly
- Can be topped with flaked sardines, red onion, capers, and torn parsley
- End with a final drizzle of oil, black pepper, and flaky salt if you would like.
- Serve immediately while toast is warm
Kitchen Words, Decoded
- Oil-packed sardines: Sardines packed in olive oil. The flavor is more intense than sardines in water and they have a more buttery texture and are easier to flake apart.
- Country bread: An example of a rustic loaf is sourdough bread. It has a strong outer crust and a chewy interior. Non-example is pre-sliced bread.
- Garlic-rubbed toast: A garlic technique that won’t overpower the dish. This traditional technique uses toasted bread to micro plane the raw garlic.
- Capers: Caper bush flower buds pickled in brine are sharp and are the punctuation of the dish.
Common Questions
Are sardines healthy?
Yes, this is a small fish. It contains a lot of oil and is rich in omega-3s, vitamin D, calcium, and protein. Since it is a low food chain fish, it contains a very low level of mercury. It is one of the healthiest canned products you can buy.
Do I have to eat the bones?
You can, and you really won’t even notice them. They are very soft and just smash into nothing when they are squished between the bread and the tomato. It would take more effort to remove them than to just leave them.
Can I make these ahead?
Please do it right before eating, while the bread is still hot. If not, the bread will start to feel rubbery after being topped. A lot of the prep can be done early. You can slice the tomato and onion, rinse the capers, and tear the parsley. However, you’ll need to do the assembly in the last five minutes.
What kind of olive oil should I use?
Extra virgin olive oil with a bold aroma. The type of oil used is for salads, not for frying. One could say the oil behind the stove is irrelevant.
Wrapping Up
After the dinner, my doubts about sardines changed instantly as now I keep four tins in the pantry at all times. It took about eight minutes to prepare, most of which was spent arranging, but it has a taste that surpasses every individual ingredient and component. The most important thing is quality ingredients and a willingness to eat with your hands. Those starting out in the world of canned fish, begin here. If you’re not, then you already know.
