Excerpt from Savage Feast by Boris Fishman, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

• Summary
• Excerpt

1. Rinse the sardines under cold water. Pat dry. Using scissors, cut away all the fins and tails. Then snip off the heads. This will create access to the body cavity; like the surgeon you always wanted to be, cut the fish open lengthwise far enough to get at the guts. (One side of the sardine will be noticeably thinner than the other. That should be the side facing up for the incision.) From here, you'll want to clear out all the innards—look for white and yellow slime—which would give the sardine a bitter taste. Remove the bone structure as well.
2. Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until golden brown. Then add the grated carrot and cook until softened.
3. the tomatoes, season to taste with salt and pepper, and lower the heat to medium-low. After the tomatoes have broken down and some of their liquid has evaporated (but some is left), add the sardines, stir gently to mix in, turn the heat to the lowest setting, cover, and let braise for 20 minutes.
4. Check for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if necessary—but mix it in gently: Whole sardines show up better on Instagram.
   
   Serve over your grain of choice or with a couple of rough hunks of bread.

From the book Savage Feast by Boris Fishman. Copyright © 2019 by Boris Fishman. Reprinted courtesy of Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.