Sardines with roast pumpkin, kale chips & probiotic mayo

In the past lunch would have typically been something like a tuna and cheese toastie, or a bowl of soup with cheese on toast for example.  I can't get across to you quite how much this way of eating is a journey of experiementation and delight as opposed to the deprivation I first thought it would be.  If I'd known eating this food, this way would be so awesome I would have done it years ago. Much to my suprise (and delight) I have been asked to share my recipes! After a few confidence issues (well it's not really my recipe, oh other people probably will think it's gross or people are probably cooking like this anyway and I'm the last to know!) I realised that I do cook more intuitively now as opposed to the recipe nazi I used to be. So I'll share as many as I can.

I love sardines. When I was a kid I had them out a tin on toast. When I lived in Tenerife you could buy them whole, cooked on a charcoal BBQ, served with canary potatoes (new potatoes roasted with a salt crust kin yum) and green salad. Tenerife sardines are, to me, an example of eating like our ancestors do, I bet they have been dishing them up like that for years and washed down with some local white chilled wine, so good after a day on the beach.

I've continued to shove tinned sardines down my neck now and again but I don't really enjoy them so I was tres excited to realise that we have local sardines here in Albany and I found some at Collies seafoods.

Here's what I did with them and here is my first ever recipe (eek):

400g sardines (mine were filleted but you can eat them whole)

Bunch of Kale (from the jardin of course)

Pumpkin (leftover from the summer garden)

Mayo

2 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons Organic butter

Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.  Peel and cut pumpkin into cubes, spray with olive oil spray and pop in oven until golden (about fifteen mins).

Cut the stalk out of the kale (it's hard to digest thanks for the tip Rosie)

Rip kale into chip size pieces spray with olive oil spray and sprinkle Himalayan salt over and bake until crispy (about 5-10mins)

Heat a table spoon of your organic butter in a medium size frying pan over a moderate heat.  Pop your sardines in skin down for a couple of minutes while you find 2 cloves of garlic and bash them. Add the other tablespoon of butter with the garlic whilst you flip the sardines (about one minute). The fish should be just cooked through.

Scatter all on a plate and enjoy.  This served Milly and I (she loved it and it was our first experience of kale chips SO FREAKIN GOOD, again, thanks Rosie) and there are leftovers for Mike who is out fishing, I doubt Sam will fancy it but we will see. So serves 2 adults and one kid!

I found this lunch quick and easy to make and absolutely delish. I washed it down with a glass of my homemade fermented gingeraid for a special treat that's a Sarah Wilson recipe.