It shouldn’t work but it does

I’ve been wanting to crack open my tin of José Gourmet Sardines in Azores Butter ever since I got them, but I wanted to do something unconventional with them. I buy ~20lbs of manoomin (wild rice that’s actually wild) every year, so when I saw some fresh cranberries at the store I thought why not pair tart cranberry rice with rich, buttery sardines?

When cooking manoomin, the rice doesn’t absorb all the water so you’re left with an earthy broth, perfect for drinking. The additional cranberry juice from the cooked cranberries makes it reminiscent of a flavored rooibos-definitely making it on the regular as long as I have access to whole cranberries. Cranberry manoomin is an easy 10/10.

The sardines fried up gorgeously at medium heat, about 2 minutes per side. I made sure to get every drop of butter out of the tin. Upon trying some butter on its own, I nearly dropped the tin-it’s a salty, umami, fatty flavor bomb.

Paired together, scooping rice through the melted butter and getting a good chunk of sardine on the spoon, it’s a match made in heaven. The butter coats the tongue, the tartness cuts through that richness, and you’re left with complementary earthy, semi-sweet, and savory notes. The quality of the fish is, as expected, phenomenal. While there was some missing skin, I chalk that up to damage caused in the pan. The flesh had no mushy bits and was extraordinarily juicy, no doubt aided by being packed in butter.

If you can find manoomin, please do yourself a favor and give this a try!