Bolindres (marbles) of sardines recipe “ISSA”

Ingredients to make Bolindres (marbles) of sardines “ISSA”:

• 1 kg of sardines, fat and fresh
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 eggs
• 2 onions (medium and tender)
• 50 gr. wheat flour
• 1 lemon (its juice)
• 30 gr. of capers
• 1 glass (of water) of olive oil
• Parsley
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin grain
• To the presentation:
• 15 gr. of capers
• 1 lemon cut into slices
• 1 lettuce heart “baby”

How to make Bolindres (marbles) of sardines “ISSA”:

1. Let’s ask the fishmonger to descale, decapitate and debone the sardines (the nice ones usually do it: if not, let’s do it ourselves)
2. Let’s wash them and dry them.
3. Let’s remove their tails.
4. (NOTE: by now the reader must have perceived the deliberate “laísmo”, which denotes my Madrid origin, like that of Cervantes, that of Quevedo, that of Moratín and that of some other “maulas”) Let’s crush them (I presume that, good or bad, each one will have an electric mincer: if not, be patient and finely chop).
5. Crush the capers, garlic, parsley (chopped), coriander, cumin, pepper and a couple of tablespoons of oil in a pestle.
6. Let’s finely chop the onions and fry them, until they are poached (a little oil, not too much heat and holy patience), Let’s now add the sardine pulp, the eggs, the contents of our mortar, the juice of our lemon and stir with a wooden spoon until achieve a paste
7. Let it macerate for about half an hour.
8. After which, we will make about 24 bolindres (six per head), as spherical as possible, we will cost them in flour and fry them in abundant oil (it must have remained) not very hot, until we manage to brown them evenly.
9. We will serve them hot, on the bed (aesthetic) that will provide us with the first 8 leaves of the “baby” lettuce, accompanied by the lemon cut into slices and flanked -here and there- by the whole capers.