Sardine Patties - an Experiment

Every so often, I get a crazy craving for something rather particular.  This past week, it was for sardine patties.

To go along with my diet, I decided to try and incorporate many healthy ingredients that would come together to form this dish, including....

• garlic
• onions
• lentils
• carrots
• great northern beans
• peas
• sardines

So far, not too bad, right?

Here's how I did it....

Lentils and carrots cooked in one pan...

 ...as anchovy, onion and garlic sauteed with olive oil in the other.

Once the onions turned golden, I added peas and great northern beans and let cook for a bit...

 

...eventually adding in the cooked lentils and carrots.

This mixture would be the base to help hold everything together...

 ...so I pureed it.

But I wanted a punch of flavor...

...so I blanched thinly sliced bell pepper in juice from a jar of banana peppers...

...and then added it to the mixture, along with capers and fresh lemon juice.

Let me say right here that this mixture was DELICIOUS!!! I probably should have stopped here and just grabbed a spoon.

Even adding the sardines to this mixture and eating it out of the bowl would have been fine.

But, alas, I put the mixture in the fridge for the next day and continued with the recipe.

Originally, I put 3 cans of sardines in a bowl...

 

...but then I added more (6 cans total) because I knew my dad was interested in trying them.

Eggs were added for binding...

 

...and that got whisked together...

 

...along with the previous day's delicious mixture.

Here is where I ran into a problem.  

My diet called for NO grains, breadcrumbs, flour, etc. but I needed something to thicken the mixture so that I could form the patties.

I thought, Well, I'll finely grind walnuts down to a flour...

 ...but I couldn't get them very fine without them turning into walnut butter.

So I caved in...

...adding corn flour...

...and then even adding some breadcrumbs.

On the plus side...

...they shaped easily, held their form...

 

...and cooked nicely (3-4 minutes a side in a little bit of almond oil).

But they were dense and not as flavorful as I would have liked.

Granted, the nuttiness of the walnuts made them hearty, but I wish I hadn't added so much filler to firm them up.  I also wish I would have added more of the pickled peppers, the capers, many more anchovies (for their saltiness) and less of the sardines (which are rather mild).

I also wish I would have put a dollop of German mustard in the mixture (I simply forgot).

Fortunately, some things were easily remedied when I fixed up a portion for myself.

Between the walnuts and the sardines, you can only imagine the amount of Omega 3's that I'm consuming.