Crumbed sardine fillets, smoked tomato soup, kipfler potatoes
Ingredients
Smoked tomato soup: 1 kg roma tomatoes ⅓ cup hickory or apple smoking wood chips 1 small leek, white part only, chopped 1 medium onion, chopped 4 garlic cloves, chopped 1 fresh bay leaf ¼ cup olive oil 1 tablespoon ground coriander 1 teaspoon sugar 1 teaspoon black peppercorns ¾ cup Chicken stock 80 g butter salt freshly cracked black pepper Potatoes: 400 g kipfler potatoes salt 2 shallots, sliced 50 g butter, melted ½ bunch chives, chopped Crumbed sardine fillets: zest of 4 lemons 1½ cups flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped 3 cups panko breadcrumbs 16 sardine fillets, butterflied salt 1 tablespoon freshly cracked black pepper 3 eggs, beaten ½ cup plain flour 4 tablespoons olive oil To serve: picked flat-leaf parsley leaves fennel sprigs lemon wedges (optional) Serves 4
Method
For the smoked tomato soup, cut 500 g of the tomatoes in half. Chop the other 500 g, but set these aside. Prepare a large, deep baking tin on the stove top, with a rack that fits inside it. Soak the wood chips for 10 minutes in water as they will smoke better if damp. Place the drained wood chips in the baking tin and cover with a double thickness of foil, then place the halved tomatoes on the rack in the tin. Place the tin on a gas burner over high heat and wait until it starts smoking. Cover the baking tin well with a lid or foil and allow to smoke for 5 minutes, then turn off the gas burner. Let the tomatoes sit for a further 10 minutes. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, sauté the leek, onion, garlic and bay leaf in the oil until the leek and onion are soft and translucent. Add the coriander, sugar, peppercorns and both the chopped and smoked tomatoes. Cover with the chicken stock, bring to the boil, then simmer for 30 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the butter. Lightly blend the soup using a hand-held blender, then pass the soup through a fine sieve or muslin cloth to separate the skin and seeds from the soup. (It is important to pass the soup to remove the bitter seeds and skin.) For the potatoes, wash them well, then put them in a saucepan and cover with cold salted water. Bring to a heavy simmer and cook for about 15 minutes or until tender. Drain the potatoes and allow to cool until you can handle them. Peel the skin off the potatoes and cut them into 5 mm thick slices. In a bowl, toss them with the shallot, melted butter and chives and season with salt. For the crumbed sardine fillets, in a bowl combine the lemon zest, parsley and panko breadcrumbs. Lightly season the sardine fillets with salt and pepper. Press the sardine fillets into the flour. Shake off the excess flour, then dip the sardines in the beaten egg, then finally the breadcrumb mixture. Put the oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, shallow-fry the sardines for 2 minutes on one side and a further minute on the other side. To build the plate, in a shallow, wide bowl, place the potato salad in the middle, then pour the smoked tomato soup around the potatoes. Pile the sardines on top of the potatoes and finish with the parsley and fennel, and lemon wedges, if desired.
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