Sardines reloaded

The sardines I made with the herring wasn’t very good. There — I said it. Ma had accused me of being a “love-my-own” because I really liked the tom kha and she didn’t (at all). Everybody’s a critic. If only I could convince her to take up cooking again (she’s good), but then that would render me useless.

It took me a while to work up the mood to take on the sardines, and then it had to be easy/practical because, frankly, the fish didn’t strike me as worth the effort. Tomato sauce was a logical choice: readily available, cheap, and it goes well with anything (in fact, I was counting on the acidity to mask the fishiness — served me right for insisting on Spanish-style sardines in the first place).

But not just any tomato sauce, mind. I make my own — if not exactly from scratch, at least an amped-up version out of the canned stuff. Note I didn’t count time as a factor, otherwise I’d have ruled out working with tomatoes as well. They tend to spoil easily unless cooked for a long enough time — at least an hour in my book. It’s something I’ve come to live with. Give tomato sauce its due or eat it straight out of the can (but leave my name out of it).

Another thing with tomato sauce: you can not leave it alone for more than a few minutes or it will bubble, spatter, and burn — it’s that heavy. Even on low heat, you have to keep stirring the pan. If you are willing to spend that much time (never mind rote effort) on it, might as well make a damn good sauce. Let’s get crackin’.

All-Purpose Tomato Sauce

Not all tomato sauces are created equal, but processed versions are especially vapid. This recipe is based on Italian sofrito and makes lots of sauce that keeps well in the freezer for up to a month — the longer it sits, the better it becomes.

• ½ cup olive oil
• ½ kilo yellow onions, finely minced
• 100 grams celery stems, finely minced
• 100 grams carrot, finely minced
• 5 cloves garlic, finely minced


• 1 cup red wine
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 4 cups tomato sauce
• 2 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes


• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey


• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon ground oregano
• 1 tablespoon dried chili flakes


• salt, to taste

1. Heat oil in pan. Add sliced onion plus a pinch or two of salt. Set heat to medium and sauté onion until reduced and caramelized, about 30 to 45 minutes. Add garlic, celery, and carrot. Sauté for another 10 minutes.
2. Pour red wine into pan. Simmer until reduced by half, then add tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring constantly, then add the broth, fish sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and honey. Cook at a low simmer for another hour, stirring constantly.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for a final 10 minutes. Season to taste. Let cool completely before storing in the refrigerator or freezer.

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The sauce goes well with pasta, pizza, stew, and whatever dish needs an extra boost. In that last respect, my parents were not around to sample my sardine experiments, so you will just have to take my word for it that they turned out better than expected.

For the dish in the topmost photo, simply put pieces of sardines in a baking dish, add tomato sauce, pickled jalapeño pepper, capers, olives, and a sprig of rosemary — whatever, really — and broil for 10 minutes. For the second (no prize for guessing it’s omelette), sauté sliced onion and flaked sardines, then add tomato sauce and cook for 2 minutes. Set aside. Scramble 2 eggs and an egg yolk together with sliced spring onion. Season to taste and cook as per your usual omelette. Fold sardines-tomato sauce mixture into the omelette, or, for a fancier look, plate in layers as in the photo. Garnish with chopped parsley and dried chili flakes (if you like some heat).

And then there’s this:

Okay, so there’s no tomato sauce there, but the point is, you can add some. What carried the day for this spaghetti dish were the fresh red chilies, hot enough to almost take my mind off the sardines. Never mind the saltiness (I put too much salt in the pasta water). The recipe is from Gordon Ramsay via his Ultimate Cookery Course series (see recipe video). To give the dish a twist, throw in some slivers of avocado — quite unusual to the Filipino palate, I know, but it works. If only I could convince my mother to give it a shot.