Cooking Experiments: Canned Sardines, Tomato Paste, and Instant Grains

So yesterday I attempted to melt sardines into a pan to make a sauce.

I used the Season sardines that I just got from Costco. This is a great product—BPA-free, boneless, and skinless. Love!

I sautéed minced garlic in a deep pan before adding the filets. Here’s where things went awry: olive oil does not handle “high” heat well, and immediately the oil started to sputter and spit at me angrily when I emptied the sardines into the pan. It got so bad that I had to remove the pan from the stove and turn off the heat for a bit.

Once things calmed down, I added the pan back to the stove and stirred the filets around until they became a brownish paste. I then added Kirkland’s organic tomato paste, another product I got from Costco.

The tomato paste and fish mixture got rather lumpy, so I poured in some water to thin it out. Sprinkled some salt into the sauce, if I could call it that, and then turned off the heat.

I’ve seen sardine sauces used with all sorts of pasta shapes, but spaghetti seems most popular. I wasn’t far-sighted enough to cook pasta while making my sauce, so I used a packet of grains containing wheat berries, quinoa, farro, and barley instead. It cooks in the microwave in two minutes, just pierce the packet a few times so the heat can escape.

I emptied the packet contents into the bowl after letting it cool for a minute, or half a minute, and topped it with my sardine and tomato concoction.

I definitely can see why this sardine sauce pairs so well with pasta. The pasta water is absolutely integral to thinning out the sauce and giving it that body you want.

The instant grain was fragrant and delicious but way too filling, better paired with sautéed mushrooms or greens.

The tomato paste was sweet enough on its own, so I didn’t feel the need to add sugar, like I normally do when making a tomato-based sauce.

I really liked all these products, but I probably wouldn’t combine the instant grain with the sauce. The tomato-sardine sauce reminded me of Vietnamese canned sardines in tomato sauce with French baguettes. You’d enjoy my creation if this sounds appealing to you.

My experiment didn’t go quite as well as I had hoped, but I now know how I can improve this dish the next time I make it.

Hauls: Fun Finds from Costco

Shopping at Costco can be an absolutely nightmare, especially on weekends. It just gets too freaking crowded. Everyone loves Costco's meat, electronics, and gift sets. Bulk heaven and shoppers' hell. It's both. Thankfully, the branch closest to me is somewhat less frequented by area shoppers due to its less accessible location. Yay!

There are some individuals who will buy just about everything from Costco. My hubby and I get certain things from here, such as great quantities of paper towels and bottled water (nothing fancy, just Deer Park or something in that range), but we buy things like cleaning supplies and produce from other places.What we do love from Costco: oils, sauces, grains, and canned ingredients.

While you can always stock up on more well-known household brands, it's much more fun to buy Costco's imported products, more gourmet offerings, and luxury items, like their wine.

I'm pretty excited about trying the Explore Asian Organic Black Bean Spaghetti Shape. Having tried shirataki noodles and veggie noodles made from a veggie slicer, I'm always down for alternatives to traditional pasta. These black bean noodles resemble soba. As you may already know, soba noodles are made from buckwheat. These "spaghetti shapes" are made from black beans. They're vegan, glutenfree, and kosher. These babies also contain 25 grams of protein, which is definitely more than your standard pasta. I'm going to try using them with a red sauce (maybe homemade, maybe not) and show you how that turns out. I imagine these noodles would also be great for stirfries. Black bean pad thai, maybe?

Another cool item is Kirkland Signature Himalayan pink salt. I've seen Himalayan pink salt all over the blogsphere. It seems to be the in thing now. Can't wait to incorporate it into some of my dishes. :)

I'm also looking forward to using these canned sardines.

I keep seeing on gourmet cooking sites and shows how chefs melt sardines into a pan to make an umami sauce. I want to do that! And just so you know--something you should remember about me--I don't mind fishy or funky, at all. Pungent is fine by me.