The orange season begins, which in Sicily are particularly beautiful and fragrant. The combination with wild fennel, which grows spontaneously in my area and is always very pleasant on my palate, inspired my creativity for this second course with intense Sicilian flavours: sardine millefeuille with orange béchamel and wild fennel. And here is the recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 kg of sardines
- 3 oranges
- Wild fennel
- 400ml of milk
- White flour to taste
- Salt to taste
- Evo oil to taste
- Pepper as needed
Method
- Fillet the sardines (or leave it to the fishmonger if you prefer) and flour them. Lightly salt them, fry them in extra virgin olive oil and place them on absorbent paper.
- Prepare the béchamel by making the classic roux, with extra virgin olive oil instead of butter. Therefore, heat a little oil in a pan, add 30 g of flour and mix.
- As soon as the roux is ready, add the milk and the filtered orange juice. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly to prevent lumps from forming.
- Blanch the fennel separately and add a little of its water to the béchamel, together with a few sprigs of fennel.
Assemble the dish using a precise technique. Put a little béchamel on the bottom, then a sardine fillet and more béchamel. Continue like this by making three or four layers and your sardine millefeuille will be ready to be served.