Sardine Rillettes
Yield: 8 ounces/1 cup/464grams
Preparation time: The butter must be softened, so remove it from the refrigerator at least an hour before mixing the rillettes. Actual prep is moments. Rillettes are best chilled for at least six hours before consuming.
Note the recipe gives starting amounts for seasoning. You may want or need to add more or less butter–you’re looking for a creamy, spreadable mixture that’s nicely seasoned at cool room temperature.
Ingredients:
One 3-ounce/85-gram tin sardines, ideally packed in water
about one tablespoon/15g unsalted, softened butter, preferably a higher-fat, European-style butter like Kerrygold or Plugra.
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons parsley, finely minced
1 scallion, green portion only, minced
lemon juice, to taste
Drain the sardines in a colander and bone them as best you can. A few bone fragments are fine.
Crumble the fish into a medium bowl and add the butter. Mix using your clean fingers or a spatula. You may need to add butter: you’re looking for a creamy mixture that holds together without crumbling.
Once the butter and fish are amalgamated, stir in remaining ingredients, tasting for seasoning.
Pack rillettes into small crocks, custard cups, or lidded storage containers. If your crocks don’t have lids, cover them tightly with plastic wrap.
Chill 6 hours.
Fifteen minutes before consuming, remove rillettes from refrigerator. Serve on crackers, toasts, or, less conventionally in a sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and onion.
Sardine rillettes will keep, covered and refrigerated, for four days.