Breaded sardines 

The fried breaded sardines are an excellent appetizer but also a very valid second course tasty and really easy to make, very few and simple ingredients will make this dish the joy of everyone at the table, follow my directions to have a really crispy and tasty fry without grease. Today's dish would not seem to be a Japanese dish, but in Japanese home cooking it is really very common. To prepare this frying, in Japan there is certainly no lack of raw material, which in fact there is in abundance: blue fish (anchovies, sardines, mackerel etc...).

This recipe is the most appetizing and inviting to enjoy this fish. An excellent appetizer but also a valid second course based on tasty and nutritious fish, easy to prepare. The best time to make this recipe is from June to September when the sardines are at their best. Every family has its own recipe to prepare to fry them: there are those who marinate them first for a few minutes with oil and lemon juice and then fry them, those who make them stuffed and fried and those who, like me, knead them with the classic cutlet breading.

Ingredients

1 kg Sardines

2 Eggs

Flour

100 g Semolina

200 g Breadcrumbs

Salt

Preparation

To prepare the fried breaded sardines first clean the sardines well by opening them as a book and removing the central bone, the bowels and you will see that the head comes away by itself together with the central bone. If like me you are lazy you can buy them already opened as a book and clean from your fishmonger then wash them under cold running water and dry them very well with kitchen paper. Beat the eggs in a deep dish and place the flour in another dish. Mix the breadcrumbs and semolina and place it in a third deep dish. You can use flavored breadcrumbs or a normal breadcrumbs purchased but in this case you can add fresh chopped parsley to beaten eggs. At this point quickly pass the sardines in the flour, shaking the excess, pass them in the beaten egg and immediately after in the breadcrumbs making a slight pressure to adhere very well. If you want a crunchy and nice coarse breading you can pass a second time the breaded sardines fried in beaten egg and breadcrumbs. Let the sardines rest on a wooden cutting board for at least 20 minutes to prevent the breadcrumbs from coming off in frying. Now you can fry the sardines, heat the oil for frying (preferably peanuts) at 160 °C, I advise you to use a kitchen thermometer that costs a few euros and facilitates you a lot in the kitchen to prevent the oil from burning emanating toxic smoke for food. So fry a few sardines at a time until they are golden on one side, turn them over and fry them on the other side, drain them on absorbent paper for fried and salt them a few moments later. Our fried breaded sardines are ready, you can serve them with lemon slices so those who like can sprinkle them and... ENJOY YOUR MEAL!