Sarde in Saor

by Camilla - foodaroundblog

In my previous post I mentioned the wonderful Venice and the memory of this enchanting place suggested to me a dish of Venetian cuisine. The sardines in saor. It’s absolutely forbidden to translate the word “Saor” which, with his dialectal soul, baptizes a traditional seaside recipe. Poor man’s dish, made of simple elements, where the preparation responded to the needs of the sailors to keep the food on board for a long time.
The “Saor”, which in English can be understood with the word “savour”, is that bittersweet combination that delights your palate and precedes the more intense and salty fish flavor when you taste this course.
Saor, in other words a dressing of white onions slowly soften in virgin olive oil made ​​and vinegar, which covers layers of  breaded and fried sardines. The origins of the recipe therefore suggests the simplicity of preparation and ingredients that I could easily recover even here in the UK .
For fresh fish the reference point is, once again, the Covered Market in Oxford.
For doses: onions should be half the weight of fish that you cook .. the rest, as always, is adjusted to taste.

Chop the onions finely and put them to dry for half an hour in oil after salted, sprinkled with a tablespoon of sugar and half a cup of white vinegar. Seasoning to taste. You can also add raisins and pine nuts. While the onions are cooking, cover fresh already clean sardines in flour and fry them in olive oil. When everything is ready, place in a bowl with a layer of onions, then one of sardines, and continue until the end, making sure you finish the preparation with onions. Cover the bowl  and keep it for a day in a cool place or in the fridge’s less cold temperature department.