Marcus Wareing's Peppered Sardines on Toast with a Green Olive Sauce

Ingredients

• 8 fresh sardines, butterflied
• olive oil
• sea salt
• sliced fresh green almonds (optional)
• For the pepper seasoning:
• 2 tbsp black peppercorns
• 1 tbsp pink peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp white peppercorns
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 2 tsp Maldon salt
• For the green olive sauce:
• 200 g fresh pitted green olives
• 4 garlic cloves
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 200 g warm (not hot) white chicken stock
• 50 ml extra virgin olive oil
• Sprigs of parsley, roughly chopped
• For the bread:
• 4 large slices of rustic bread
• 1 garlic bulb, cut in half
• 50 ml olive oil

Instructions

1. 1

   Preheat the grill to its highest setting. For the pepper seasoning - grind the spices and salt in a mortar with a pestle until finely ground.Make the green olive sauce in a high-spend blender. Put the pitted olives, garlic, lemon juice, pepper seasoning, chicken stock, olive oil and parsley in the blender and blitz on full speed for 2-3 minutes until smooth and glossy. Prepare the bread by cutting the large slices into halves. Then rub all eight slices with the garlic bulb and drizzle over a generous amount of olive oil. Toast the bread by placing it on a hot grill and cook for a few minutes on each side until crisp.Drizzle the sardines with olive oil on both sides, massaging it into the skin. Then generously season the sardine skin with the pepper mix. Put a pan on a very high heat. When the pan has reached temperature, take it off the heat and add a good glug of olive oil. Place the fish into the pan, two at a time, and flip them after a minute or so. The sardines should cook quickly. Continue with the remaining fish then remove from the pan.To serve, put a spoon of the green olive sauce on four large serving plates and spread it out slightly using the back of the spoon. Layer two halves of toast over the green olive sauce on each plate. Carefully place two sardines skin side up on top of the toast. Garnish with a few almonds (if using) and finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Serve the remaining green olive sauce on the side.