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So having decided that the weather was going to be too dirty for me to day-trip Crown, of course it was lovely and clear today. Well, that's how it goes (and the other reasons for taking a weekend off still hold). Yesterday I got a yen for doing something new and different with fresh fish, so I picked up a few fresh sardines at Berkeley Bowl this morning then poked around in the cookbooks for inspiration. I was thinking of doing something classically Greek but ended up feeling inspired by a nut-stuffed sardines recipe in Patrick Faas' Around the Roman Table -- which fit nicely with an asparagus patina and a mushroom recipe in Dalby & Grainger's Classical Cookbook, since I'd happened to pick up asparagus and mushrooms as well. They're all modified from the published versions, but since I wasn't necessarily trying for historic reproduction, I'll leave the comparison up to whoever wants to make it. Thus:

Nut-stuffed sardines

Make a stuffing by grinding together nuts, cumin, mint, and pepper, and moisted with honey and vinegar. Gut and remove the backbones from the sardines, stuff with the stuffing and close them up again. Bake briefly at a high heat.

Or in more detail:
Take 3 sardines, gut, and remove the heads and the backbones. Grind together 10 g pine nuts, 10 g toasted blanched almonds, 1 tsp cumin seed, 1 tbsp dried mint, and a couple tbsp of minced basil. Add a dash of black pepper, 1 tsp honey, and a splash of vinegar which turns the whole thing into a coherent paste. Smear part of it on the inside of each sardine and fold the fish back together, then brush the outside lightly with olive oil and place them on a baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 400F. Bake the fish for about 15 minutes or until just beginning to brown.

Evaluation: Delicious and a nice visual presentation. If I were making it for company, I might leave the heads on for show. I'd stuffed the fish and then decided I wanted to wait a couple hours before eating so I put them in the refrigerator -- which may have infused the flavor a bit, but meant the stuffing wasn't quite as warmed up as it should have been when the fish was done. 3 sardines was about the right amount for one person.

Asparagus patina

Steam a bunch of asparagus until tender and mince up a cup's worth. In a frying pan, saute a small chopped onion, then mix in about 1/3 c. wine, 1/2 Tbsp olive oil, 1 Tbsp fish sauce, a handful of minced basil, and a pinch of pepper. Heat slightly and mix in the chopped asparagus then put the whole in a greased baking dish. Beat 2 eggs and pour over the other ingredients. Bake in a medium oven (ca. 375 F) until the egg is set (ca. 15 min.)

Evaluation: Interesting, but a touch on the bland side. It definitely needed a bit of salt (or more of the salty fish sauce). The original recipe called for different fresh herbs (but basil was what I had) and maybe there should be more. More something, anyway. But it set up nicely. The amount was probably about right for 2 people.

Mushrooms

Slice some large mushrooms -- I used three medium-sized portobellos. In a frying pan, mix 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1 Tbsp fish sauce, 1 Tbsp honey, a pinch of parsley (substituting for lovage) and a pinch of pepper. Heat this over a fairly low heat then add the mushrooms and stir until the mushrooms are tender and the sauce has reduced to a glaze coating them.

Evaluation: Absolutely delicious. Woudldn't change a thing (substantially -- I might try it using the precise seasonings in the original, rather than simply what I had on hand). This amount was about right for 2 people.

Having (almost accidentally) thrown together a Roman meal, I started on the 1st season DVDs of Rome that