As with most of the things that I throw together in the kitchen, it's pretty simple and doesn't cost much by the way of ingredients.
It's very attractive (I always reckon that people taste with their eyes long before they taste with their mouths) and can be made well ahead of time and kept in the fridge for a couple of days. It can also be frozen (except the garnish).
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Ingredients to serve four:
4 lemons
2 tins of sardines in water (oil if you must, but NOT tomato sauce)
Some pitted black olives (about half a dozen, more if you really like them)
A teaspoon of French mustard
A large dollop of crème fraîche (a couple of tablespoons)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Optional (and more expensive) garnish - a teaspoon of lumpfish caviar per person.
What to do:
First - the fiddly bit:
Cut a slice from the top of each lemon to make a "lid".
Scoop out the flesh of each lemon (I used a combination of a teaspoon, a grapefruit knife and brute force), put the flesh to one side.
Cut a slice from the bottom of the lemon (being careful not to pierce through to the now hollow insides), so that the lemon will stand upright.
Drain the sardines and bash them (a pestle and mortar helps, but a dish and tablespoon will do) into a mushy consistency.
Finely (as finely as you can manage) chop the olives.
Mix the mashed sardines, the chopped olives, mustard, crème fraîche, and some of the lemon flesh together.
Taste it and see if you need to add more lemon (according to your own tastes). Season with salt and pepper (to taste).
Fill the hollowed out lemons with the mixture, plop a teaspoon of lumpfish caviar on top, balance the "lid" on top of that and that's the job done.
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To drink? At the risk of being a tad conservative, this surprisingly delicate yet tangy starter cries out for a dry white wine. No need to be elaborate; a basic entre-deux-mers is all you need; anything grander will cut through the flavour of the food too much. An good alternative might be a simple Soave.
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