soft-boned summer
and a sandwich I cannot shake.
Tinned fish is living its best summer.
Sardines snuggled into olive oil are you, feet up happily distracted during work calls watching a #Europecore video of someone 15 years younger packing for an imaginary trip to Italy in their parent’s bedroom.
You’re an oily little fish steaming yourself in the 400% humidity on a small patch of grass surrounded by baking sidewalks with the other 12 fish left in the city for the sake of hearing some recent art school graduates piece together a few serviceable originals between 1990s cover songs.
With your soft bones and persistently blue-tinged skin, you slip into your $180 I’m into unionized labor jumpsuit before carting the little sardinella to mortgage-equivalent daycare and swimming home to your six-figure project management sandbar. Your uniform comes in three colors: UPS worker, Ghostbuster and Rosie the Riveter.
You’ve accepted that you may be a fish lower on the food chain, but at least you’re lower in toxicity and efficient with your consumption.
Some days you feel like an exotic $19 tin that was imported to your local wine shop from one of the fish boutiques lining the perimeter of the Baixa-Chiado, resting your memories on a soft, fresh baguette surrounded by cool, crisp vegetables adorned in a rich tapestry of paprika-infused mayonnaise. Other days you’re just a $4 grocery store upgrade for something so benign that you might confuse Jessica Simpson about your origin story.
If tinned fish is living its best summer, it’s in the embrace of compromised luxury.
sardine sandwich with smoked paprika mayo
This sandwich is a replica of one I ate in a carry-out basement in Lisbon, Portugal, that is still with my food memory 9 years later.
what you need
1/2 cup mayonnaise, preferably Duke's ◾1 teaspoon+ of smoked hot Spanish paprika◾ 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
2 cans sardines, packed in olive oil ◾1 large baguette◾1/2 cup canned or frozen corn, at room temperature◾1/2 cup shredded carrots◾4 large leaves of red leaf lettuce
what to do
Make the mayonnaise. In a small bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, vinegar, and paprika, until combined.
Prep the bread. Using a serrated knife, cut the baguette in half, creating two equal length pieces. Turn the bread on it's side and slice the loaf 3/4 of the way through, lengthwise. Press open to make space for the filling. (Is this too many instructions to tell you to slice a loaf of bread? feels like it!)
Build your sandwich. Open the sardine tins and flip over onto the bread. Using a fork, distribute the fish evenly across one side of the baguette. On the other side, generously spread the smoked paprika mayonnaise. Top each sandwich with half of the corn, carrots, lettuce, and any other of your favorite crunchy vegetables.
Serve with chips and your favorite bubbly drink.
Reading - How Your House Makes You Miserable by Culture Study which perfectly captures how the market gaze can suck the joy out of just about anything.
Listening - to Modern Nomad on a picnic blanket by the waterfront.
Snacking - on all the Ataulfo (Champagne) mangoes like August will never end.
The recipe looks awsome will have to go buy sardines now. But can I please say thank you, thank you,thank you for the recommended reads which directed me via some cool netsurfing to the Instagram page Zillow Gone Wild. I am crying with laughter at the posts, but weeping on the floor at the comments on all these houses🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😎😎😎
I definitely need to get more into tinned fish! Only tinned fish I grew up eating was mackerel. We lightly tossed in flour then deep fried and finished off with sprays of fresh lemon juice. Your recipe looks delish and will def. try!