Urban Sardines
Grow your own. Urban vegetables. A garden? In the city? Quite difficult that. But after agreeing that herbs count as vegetables too (as own grown) I was in. Hooked on the idea. GYO. But I’ll let you discover the GYO event on your own.
Back to my very own Brussels ‘garden’ and the couple of herbs we grow. That is when we don’t manage to kill … mint. Mint. Of all the herbs in the world. Have you ever killed mint? No, I didn’t think so.
Anyhow. We are currently the proud owners of a rosemary plant, a mint plant (still alive), a thyme plant, an oregano plant and the surprise of the summer, a sage plant. Why surprise? Because it basically took over all the planting space.
Urban sardines. Why this title you ask? Well it’s all about urban herbs. And the sardines are city (bought) sardines too. Very much in season. And very rarely cooked in our household. Although so delicious when fresh. Memories of fresh sardines, simply served with some boiled potatoes in Portugal still linger. Combining the two was not only so (so!) easy, but from almost nothing we created a delicious, flavoursome and light dinner. Sardines on toast. I know. As old as the world of cooking. But if you haven’t actually tried them at home, do. The recipe was courtesy of Mark Sargeant. Online mind you, as we don’t actually ‘know’ him.
Very simple. Some fresh sardines. Some fresh cherry tomatoes. Some fresh garlic. Oh and the urban herb du jour, thyme. Grilled, toasted, roasted, drizzled and voila, the perfect summer dinner. Really. Perfect. Urban sardines. For a very urban couple. Growing (their own) urban herbs.
If a city’er, any urban herbs you grow and love?
Filed under: BlogEvent, Fish and Seafood, Recipes
While I’m currently living out in the (damned) desert, growing herbs doesn’t seem technically possible. I’ll give them a try around october when we get 2 weeks of more “normal” climate. Ok, well the question was what we grow at home; back home (near the ocean and in what would now be called mexican wine country) I had successfully grown rosemary, parsley, basil, if treated kindly. A friend of mine grows the same herbs, but in addition some cilantro, oregano and another herb that’s common kitchen fair at the cities around Mexico City (quite a few kilometers away). But I don’t know if I’d call these urban herbs since our cities aren’t as densely populated as yours are.
I have not had sardines in years, like since I was a kid. My father used to buy tins of them and sit and eat them on crackers. Well of course my sister and I would hound him for a bite until he shared. I grew up loving them. Your grilled sardines look lovely with the cherry tomatoes and your fresh thyme. Thanks for contributing to Grow Your Own!
I haven’t tried growing any herbs.. mainly because of lack of space anywhere in the house… but even trying to maintain a small basil plant is taking it’s toll on me..
Ur sardines look yummy! As much as I love to eat fish, I get all queasy while handling them…
but this dish looks easy enough. 
Might give it a shot.