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Herring on tomato toasts
Serves 4 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 6 herrings
- 4tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra, to serve
- 2 medium onions
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste with sea salt crystals
- 90ml fruity white wine
- 5 tomatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
- 2-3tbsp tomato purée
- 2tsp pul biber
- bread of choice for griddling, cut to fit the herring fillets
- 1 whole garlic clove, for rubbing
Method
Rub any scales from the herrings under a cold tap and remove the fillets leaving behind as much bone as possible, rinse in cold water and gently pat dry. Inspect for any stray pin bones and pull out with tweezers.
Peel and roughly chop the onions and put in a processor and chop finely. Heat the oil over a medium heat and cook the onion for 5 minutes until soft. Add the garlic and stir for 1 minute. Add the wine and cook until evaporated.
Squeeze the seeds from the tomato quarters into a sieve set over the pan and squash as much liquid through as possible into the onions. Chop the tomato pieces and add to the pan along with the tomato purée and 1tsp of pul biber. Cook for around 8 minutes on a medium heat then set aside.
Heat a ridged griddle pan on high. Toast the bread on the hot pan. When golden griddle lines appear, turn over and griddle the other side. Rub with garlic and spoon over some olive oil.
Scatter the fish with a little salt and pul biber on the flesh side. Put onto the hot griddle pan skin- side down and press down firmly to engage with the griddle for 1-2 minutes. Don’t move them until they lift off the pan easily, then turn and cook for 1 minute. Spread the tomato sauce on the toasts and top with the herring fillets cut into two and a drizzle of oil.
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