I’ve never understood why some people are sniffy about tinned fish. There are so many wonderful things you can do with it, and if you have a tin or two stashed in a cupboard you are never far away from a cheap and sustaining meal.
Anchovies — on toast, draped over a layer of butter so thick you can see your teeth marks when you bite into it — are one of the happiest things in this world to eat. Or in pasta sauce, cooked the way they do it in Venice, “in salsa”. Soften a chopped onion in a pan with a generous dash of oil, then add tinned anchovies and cook very gently until they begin to melt away into the most gloriously salty-sweet concoction to douse your spaghetti with. Few things are more comforting.
This is one of the simplest things to make — it’s just a matter of rolling out the pastry and topping it with tomato and sardines. You can of course alter the toppings according to what you fancy: green olives instead of black, add capers, a smattering of dried chilli flakes, fresh parsley, thyme or oregano, even a few chunks of mozzarella — whatever you’re craving and have to hand.
Serves
4-6 people
Ingredients
400g tinned tomatoes, chopped
320g ready-rolled puff pastry
2 tins of sardines in olive oil (about 6 fillets)
½ red onion, thinly sliced into rounds
10-12 black olives, pits removed
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01 Heat the oven to 200C (220C non-fan). Tip the tinned tomatoes into a colander and allow them to drain for a few minutes: this is an important step because too much liquid will make the pastry soggy.
02 Scrunch up a sheet of greaseproof paper and wet it a little under a cold tap, then shake off the water and use it to line a 23cm springform cake tin. Drape the puff pastry into the tin, stretching it out just a little further to make it roughly round, then fold over the edge of the pastry to make a raised border around the edge of the tart. Prick the pastry base all over with a fork.
03 Spoon the tomatoes onto the pastry and spread out evenly. Drain the sardines well, reserving 1 tablespoon of oil, then slice them in half lengthways. Remove and discard the spine, then arrange the six sardine halves over the tomato. Scatter over thin rounds of onion and the olives and drizzle over the reserved oil.
04 Bake the tart for 20-25 min until the edges turn golden and puff up. Serve warm.
