Smoky Baked Sardines and Potatoes

The inspiration for this came from this month's Observer Food Monthly, I'm not sure whether it was pleasant or not reading all those summer recipes in the rain, but they were delicious and I've cooked one already, so they must be good!

I set out to use mackerel, but the fishmonger only had sardines, so I thought I'd give them a go. Sardines are even higher on the sustainability scale than mackerel and another of your omega-3 rich oily fish.. (see Fish online). So, sardines in hand, I merged several recipes and came up with this fiery little dish, I have that amazing Spanish smoked paprika which added a lovely sweet depth and you can't go wrong with crsipy potatoes and slow cooked onions, a meal in itself. We had it with salad, but in retrospect this would probably also go really well with some good quality (homemade?) mayonnaise.

Smoky Baked Sardines and Potatoes

Ingredients
500g new potatoes, sliced into thick coins
3-4 sardine fillets, depending on the size
2 onions, sliced into rings
1tbsp paprika
olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 bunch pasley, finely chopped
1tbsp white wine vinegar
½ lemon

Add the potatoes to a large roasting tray so that they're in one layer, drizzle over oil, sprinkle with salt and half the paprika. Roast in a hot oven for about 20mins until the potatoes are pretty much cooked through.

Meanwhile cook the onions sloowly in oil until very soft, add the rest of the paprika, garlic, vinegar and parsley along with a little extra oil and take off the heat. Lay the sardines over the potatoes, add the onion mixture and bake for a further 8-10mins until the fish is completely cooked through. When cooked, squeeze over a little lemon juice.

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