SARDINES & PLANTAINS WITH ANGELA PELLEW-WHYTE

Angela Pellew-Whyte in her restaurant, Angela's.

The restaurant at the corner of my block was empty when I moved in and I walked past it every day daydreaming about becoming a regular at whatever place eventually opened there. I hoped it would be amazing. The first time I met Angela Pellew-Whyte, she swooped into the room in a wide-brimmed hat with a colorful scarf and a big smile. I was like who is this fabulous person!? It turned out, she was the chef opening up the place on my corner. Her restaurant, Angela's, is warm and comfortable and oh the food really is amazing. She makes dishes from her home country of Guyana and beyond. The curry goat and the Guyanese lo mein are among my favorites and I've recently branched out to trying the grilled shrimp and the cod fish bake. All fantastic, go eat at Angela's immediately. Now that we're regulars, she invited us over on a Tuesday afternoon, her day for experimentation in the kitchen, to try her father's recipe for sardines and plantains. Angela and Rosie, her prep cook, and my mother who tagged along, all agreed that eating sardines when they were kids made them look poor so they never liked them. Angela's dad told her that he would show her the right way to make sardines and she would like it. And she did. And so did we! They were lemon-y and spicy, with a bit of thyme and garlic, perfect with the sweetness of the plantains on the side.

Recipe after the photos!

Angela's Caribbean Cuisine
417 Nostrand Avenue (at Jefferson Ave.)
Brooklyn, NY
718-552-2297

Photos by Sarah Forbes Keough

Peeling plantains in the kitchen

SARDINES & PLANTAINS

Half an onion
A few slices of scotch bonnet pepper
Two cloves of garlic sliced
Two scallions sliced
12 grape tomatoes halved
Two sprigs of thyme
Lemon juice
Two cans of sardines in olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Sauté the onion, hot pepper, thyme and garlic together in oil. Then add the sardines. After a couple minutes, add the tomatoes. Stir a minute, then add lemon juice and scallions.

Then slice yellow plantains into half an inch thick rounds. Fry them up in canola oil. Serve the sardines with a few plantain slices.

For more recipes featuring canned fish, buy Put A Egg On It #12 in our shop.