Sardine toasts with harissa, lemon and capers, and cucumber salad
An open-faced Tunisian sandwich: garlic-rubbed toast, sardines in olive oil and a harissa condiment with capers, olives and lemon zest, served with cucumber and marinated red onion salad.
Method
- Wash the lemon, finely grate the zest into a bowl, taking only the yellow part, then squeeze it to get about 40 g juice. Slice the red onion very thinly and immediately put it in the salad bowl with 1 tbsp juice (15 g) and a pinch of salt (0.5 g): it will mellow and turn pink while you continue. Cut the cucumber into thin half-moons, put in the colander over the sink with 2 pinches of salt (1.5 g), toss and leave to drain for 10 minutes.
- Open the sardine tins. Lift the sardines out one by one with a fork and place on kitchen paper without breaking them; pour 1 tbsp of their oil into a cup for the bread. Chop the parsley. Drain the capers, slice the olives into rings and chop the gherkins, if using.
- In the bowl containing the zest, stir the harissa into the 20 g olive oil, then add 2 tsp lemon juice (10 g), the capers, olives, gherkins, half the parsley and half the pepper. Mix: the condiment should be red, glossy and thick enough to stay on the spoon without running. Taste: it should be distinctly spicy and lemony; do not add salt.
- Reserve a few slices of marinated onion for the toasts. Gently press the cucumber in the colander and discard the released water, then add to the salad bowl with the onion and its juices. Add the 10 g oil and remaining parsley and pepper and mix. Taste and add a pinch of salt (0.5 g) if needed: the salad should be crisp and seasoned all the way through, without sitting in a pool of water.
- Toast the 4 slices for 2–3 minutes in the toaster, or in a hot dry frying pan over a high heat for 1–2 minutes on each side, until golden and crisp on the surface. Immediately rub one side of each slice with the cut garlic clove, letting the crust grate the garlic, then spread the sardine oil over it with the back of a spoon.
- Spread a thin layer of the condiment over each slice, using half in total, without making the bread soggy. Add the sardines, open them in two with the tip of a fork and press down lightly so they stay in place. Spoon over the remaining condiment with its capers and olives, add the marinated onion slices, drizzle with the remaining lemon juice (15 g) and finish with a drizzle of uncooked olive oil (5 g). Serve immediately, with two toasts and half the salad per person, while the bread is still crisp.
Variants and their steps remain below the recipe.
Fish-free
- Sardines in olive oil (125 g tin, 90 g drained) → Eggs 330 g (6 eggs, 3 per person; 3 eggs (165 g) for a mixed pair)
- add Extra virgin olive oil 15 g (10 g for the mashed eggs and 5 g to coat the bread instead of sardine oil; use half for a mixed pair)
- add Fine salt 0.5 g (1 pinch for the eggs)
- For a mixed pair, one plate with sardines and one fish-free plate, open only 2 tins of sardines, 180 g, all for the fish plate, and cook 3 eggs as below. After step 3, divide the condiment between two bowls. In the fish-free bowl, use half to mash into the eggs and half to finish their 2 toasts. From the fish bowl, spread half thinly over the other 2 slices and spoon half over the sardines. Assemble the fish-free toasts first, then the sardine toasts with a different fork.
- Before anything else, bring a saucepan of water to the boil over a high heat with the lid on. Lower the eggs in with a ladle and cook at a gentle boil for 10 minutes, using a timer. Run under cold water for 3 minutes, peel and dry: they cook while you prepare the rest, without adding to the overall time.
- In step 5, coat the toasted, garlic-rubbed slices with 5 g olive oil, or 2.5 g for a mixed pair, instead of sardine oil.
- In step 6, roughly mash the eggs in a bowl with a fork, adding half the condiment, 10 g olive oil and a pinch of salt. The mixture should be orange, creamy, with pieces of egg white, and hold its shape on the spoon. Spread over the slices, then finish as for the sardines with the remaining condiment, marinated onion, lemon juice and a drizzle of uncooked olive oil.
Hard-boiled egg with harissa, capers and olives is a traditional Tunisian sandwich filling: one preparation makes two equally delicious kinds of toast.
Lighter version
Toute la garniture sur moitié moins de pain donne des bouchées plus riches en sardine, en harissa et en citron. Le condiment et la finition sont moins huileux, mais le poisson conserve le fondant de sa mise en conserve.
- Bread (baguette or country loaf) : 130 g
- Extra virgin olive oil : 25 g
In step 3, use only 15 g oil in the condiment. In step 5, toast just 2 large slices, one per person. In step 6, divide all the sardines and condiment between them and omit the final drizzle of oil.
Half the bread and 10 g less oil, with the same topping and salad; eat the large toast with a knife and fork.
On your plate
Recipe
847 kcal · protein 45 g · carbs 74 g · fat 38 g
Quantities per person
- 135 g Sardines in olive oil (125 g tin, 90 g drained)
- 130 g Bread (baguette or country loaf)
- 2.5 g Garlic
- 7.5 g Harissa
- 17.5 g Extra virgin olive oil
- 60 g Lemon
- 5 g Capers
- 15 g Black olives in brine (Kalamata, Gaeta or Israeli)
- 7.5 g Flat-leaf parsley
- 150 g Cucumbers
- 20 g Red onions
- 1.25 g Fine salt
- 0.25 g Ground black pepper
- 15 g Gherkins / small pickled cucumbers
Fish-free version
872 kcal · protein 34 g · carbs 73 g · fat 46 g
Quantities per person
- 130 g Bread (baguette or country loaf)
- 2.5 g Garlic
- 7.5 g Harissa
- 25 g Extra virgin olive oil
- 60 g Lemon
- 5 g Capers
- 15 g Black olives in brine (Kalamata, Gaeta or Israeli)
- 7.5 g Flat-leaf parsley
- 150 g Cucumbers
- 20 g Red onions
- 1.5 g Fine salt
- 0.25 g Ground black pepper
- 15 g Gherkins / small pickled cucumbers
- 165 g Eggs
Cooking tips
Use thick-crusted country bread or a baguette, always toasted: the contrast between crisp bread and soft sardines makes the dish. Assemble the toasts at the last moment; the salad can wait 10 minutes. For a starter, serve mechouia or cumin carrots without eggs, olives or capers, as these are already on the toasts. Rinse salt-packed capers and soak for 10 minutes. Small sardines can be eaten with their soft bones; choose boneless tinned sardines if you dislike the texture. Once opened, keep in a sealed container in the fridge, covered with their oil, for 2 days; use them in mechouia salad or pasta the next day.
The Tunisian casse-croûte: bread, harissa, capers, olives and lemon with tinned fish, tuna or sardines, served here as open-faced toasts with cucumber and marinated onion salad.
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