For lunch today I fried a can of sardines in a haphazard mix of paprika and cayenne pepper, removing bones throughout the process. I put the result into tortillas on beds of cilantro, and topped it with lashings of homemade chipotle salsa. I was following a recipe that calls for yogurt and pesto, but chose to omit both, as those flavors seem odd for sardines (and because the fridge has no yogurt). The flavor was incomplete. I now think the writer had a point: the yogurt would have provided a unifying creamy base, and the pesto would have provided the right accompaniment to the slightly overwhelming flavor of the sardines. Sardines are quite different from the white fish usually used in fish tacos. That fish provides a flaky protein base with little flavor. Sardines, however, do not flake in the same way and provide a flavor so intense that one feels compelled to brush one's teeth immediately upon finishing the dish. In all, a dish with a potential not yet achieved this morning, but I am hopeful to perfect it, as its ease and complexity make it appealing.
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