Florentine Sardines

How to make sardines in Florentine .

When we prepare a Florentine recipe , we are talking about a culinary term typical of French cuisine, à la Florentine .

Whatever the dish we prepare à la florentine will have spinach among its ingredients and a mornay sauce as an accompaniment.

We should not confuse the Florentine , a French term, with alla fiorentina , an Italian name that describes dishes typical of the most classic gastronomy of the city of Florence in Italy, the preparation is totally different.

Although the most common is to prepare this classic cuisine recipe with fish, we can also find eggs or chicken with the Florentine tagline. Today I leave you the recipe for this type of preparation with fish, specifically some sardines in Florentine .

The mornay sauce , a fundamental part of this recipe, is nothing more than a bechamel sauce enriched with grated cheese and egg, with which we will cook or cover the dish.

The sardines, clean, with a bed of spinach and nanadas of mornay sauce, with the base of this simple, classic and super tasty recipe.

This recipe is a good way to eat fish in a different and fun way, surely even the most reluctant will like it, you will tell me.

Preparation of sardines to Florentine

1. We clean the fish removing the scales and the viscera.
2. We filleted it removing the central spine and the head. We can ask our fishmonger to prepare the sardines for us in this way. We salt the fish and reserve.
3. We clean the spinach from roots or hard parts, wash them and put them to cook in salted water for 4 minutes.
4. Drain well leaving them to rest in a strainer and set aside.

Preparation of the Mornay sauce

1. We prepare the Mornay sauce starting by making a roux. In a frying pan, melt the butter and, when it is hot, add the flour and a pinch of salt.
2. Stir without stopping until the flour is cooked and a ball forms.
3. We add, little by little, in several batches, the hot milk, stirring constantly with some rods until it integrates with the roux.
4. Once all the milk is integrated we cook for 3 or 4 minutes.
5. Add the egg yolk and continue stirring until it is integrated into the entire sauce.
6. Finally incorporate the grated cheese and continue working the sauce until it has melted. We reserve.

Preparation of the sardines and final presentation

1. In a frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and brown the garlic, peeled and whole.
2. When we see that the garlic is golden brown we remove it and add the spinach well drained. We fry for 3 or 4 minutes and add 2 or 3 tablespoons of the Mornay sauce that we have prepared.
3. We can use the whole garlic, and then discard it, or chop it and leave it incorporated into the spinach.
4. We mount the plate on a tray suitable for the oven.
5. We distribute the spinach with sauce in the bottom so that it covers the entire surface.
6. We place on top the clean and salty sardines that we have reserved and cover with the rest of the Mornay sauce. Finally sprinkle with grated cheese.
7. With the oven previously heated to 180º C we cook the sardines for 20 minutes.
8. We serve the dish very hot. It does not need more accompaniment than some cooked potatoes to accompany the sauce. A plate of yummy, super complete.

Be sure to enjoy all the recipes for fish and seafood that we have on the blog.

You can see all the photos of the step by step in the next album .