Cocktail hour!

Sardines are:

a) The perfect accompaniment to a martini.

b) Delicious, any way you slice them.

c) Sure to cause my future children to go "EWWWWW" as I scarf them down, at which point I will know for sure that I have turned into my father.

I love a nice martini at cocktail hour (although to be perfectly accurate, my new favorite is a gibson -- a martini garnished with cocktail onions instead of olives). But I have a hard time pairing food with martinis. Even cheese, that cocktail hour standby, doesn't quite stand up to the booziness of a martini or a gibson. Sardines, on the other hand, do the job quite well, and I always keep a few tins on hand for a last-minute cocktail hour snack. My favorites are the Vigo brand of Spanish sardines from Whole Foods.

Sometimes, I'll just eat them straight out of the tin, layered with a dollop of sour cream on a triscuit. And sometimes, when I'm feeling really ambitious, I'll turn that concept into a little spread-type thing.


It's quite simple really. I use one tin of sardines (which I usually pick through to pull out any especially hunky pieces of sardine spine), a generous dollop of sour cream, a half a lemon's worth of juice, a handful of chopped fresh parsley, salt, and pepper. Mash it all together, and spread on a cracker.

Perfect.

(And yes, the answer is OBVIOUSLY "All of the above.")