Strawberry Shrub with Sardine and Roasted Pepper

Recipe, Food-Styling, Photo: Oliver Schwarzwald

Easy, quick summer pairing!

Summer is here and the strawberries are juicy and aromatic. A good basis for our shrub. Overripe, bruised and soft fruits that don't make it onto the plate are perfect. They are cooked, it doesn't matter what they look like. Seen in this light, the whole thing is also a great use for leftovers!

The shrub is prepared hot this time. In contrast to the cold preparation, this version is much quicker. With the cold method, the fruits are stored with sugar in a glass jar for a few days until they have released their juice, which is then mixed with vinegar. The obvious disadvantage is that it takes a long time, but the advantage is more aroma. When heated, subtle flavours dissipate quickly. For example, a celery shrub made hot will taste very earthy and musty. With such products, the rule is: cold is key. But with strawberries from the region, plus a little overripe, there is definitely enough flavour left in the pot. In this case, another advantage of the warm variant is that the acetic acid is reduced by boiling. The strawberries, in my opinion, can't take too much acetic acid. Light acidity and lots of fruit remain in the glass. A little salt and cardamom give the shrub the necessary twist. When topped up with tonic, the drink remains in balance. The roasted paprika is wonderfully floral and, in combination with the cucumber, very fresh, Gaspacho-like. If you like, you can add more balsamic vinegar to give the dish more acidity. There is plenty of room for experimentation. Fried sardine now brings the fatty and cheesy aromatic component to the plate. A piece of brioche toasted in garlic butter rounds off the whole. Brioche is of course best fresh from the bakery. If necessary, it can also come from the supermarket. It's good if it's in one piece so that you get a nice thick slice. A short holiday on a plate! Vamos sober Buddies!

Roasted peppers:

Suitable for: 4 + people

Ingredients

3 red peppers

½ cucumber, peeled, seeded

1 tsp roasted paprika powder

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Salt

Pepper

Tabasco

Caper apples

Roasted almond slivers

Parsley, flat, chopped

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Wash the peppers, dry them, cut them into quarters, remove the stalks, the white partitions and the seeds. Place them skin side up on the tray and roast for about 20 minutes until the skin gets really dark and blisters. If the grill is switched on, the time is reduced to about 10 minutes. But then check constantly! Then remove the baking tray from the oven. Cover the peppers with a damp cloth for 15 minutes. After that, the skin can be removed more easily.

In the meantime, peel and seed the cucumber. Roughly chop the parsley and toast the almond slivers in a pan (you can also start preparing the sardines and the brioche).

Peel the skin off the peppers and blend with the cucumber in a blender. Season well with the spices. Distribute on plates. Finally, garnish with almonds, caper apple and parsley and serve with the hot sardines and brioche.

Food-Styling, Photo: Oliver Schwarzwald

Brioche

Brioche / thick slice - fresh or from the packet

Garlic in thin slices

1 tbsp butter

Melt the butter in a pan and add 2 thin slices of garlic. Toast the brioche carefully.

Sardine

2 sardines per person as a starter

8 small sardines frozen or fresh

4 tablespoons flour

3 eggs

6 tbsp breadcrumbs

Salt

Defrost the sardines. Remove the head and gut the fish. The backbone and bones can be pulled out of the sardines with your fingers. Salt the fish. Now coat in flour, then in beaten egg. Then coat in breadcrumbs and fry in plenty of oil. Keep warm, or better still serve directly.

Styling, Photo: Oliver Schwarzwald

Strawberry Shrub

At least 4 people

250 gr strawberries

250 gr sugar

150ml white wine vinegar

20ml water

8 capsules cardamom crushed

Zest of ¼ lemon

Juice of ½ lemon

Pinch of salt

Ice, tonic water

Mint and strawberry for garnish

Heat the vinegar, water and sugar until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil briefly. Reduce the heat. Add strawberries, cardamom, lemon zest and lemon juice and simmer gently for 10-15 minutes. Leave on the cooker to cool and then pour through a sieve into an acid-proof container. Serve over ice in the ratio of 1 part shrub to 2 parts tonic.

Food-Styling, Photo: Oliver Schwarzwald