Sardines in Tomato Sauce with a Fruity Note
The sardines in tomato sauce from A Banca da Sardinha are marinated in a fruity sauce made from sun-ripened tomatoes and olive oil. Not your standard dry snack, but a succulent, slightly sweet variety for anyone who enjoys the combination of fish and tomato.
Sardines in tomato sauce from A Banca da Sardinha combine tender sardine fillets with a sauce made from sun-ripened tomatoes and olive oil. 70 percent of the contents is fish, with the rest consisting of the fruity tomato sauce that almost steals the show from the sardines.
Fruity, sweet, and tomatoey
The tomato sauce coats the sardine fillet like a second skin, providing a sweetness rarely found in the typically salty world of sardines. Fruity, sweet, and tomatoey—that is the impression from the very first spoonful, quite unlike its siblings packed in clear olive oil.
The sauce is never cloying, instead balancing the acidity of the tomato with the mild fish meat. Serve them warm on toasted bread, cold straight from the tin with a salad, or folded into a quick tomato sauce for pasta, where they act as both the fish and sauce component in one. If you like things uncomplicated, all you need is a spoon and an empty plate.
If you prefer yours without tomato, opt for the classic sardines in olive oil, or if you prefer a spicier sauce, try the sardines in escabeche sauce from the same producer. Children often prefer this version over the pure varieties as well, because the tomato sauce tastes more familiar.
Pre-cooked, then nestled in tomato
As with all varieties from A Banca da Sardinha, the fish are freshly caught off the Portuguese Atlantic coast, cleaned by hand, and pre-cooked using the traditional method before anything else enters the tin.
Only then are the pre-cooked fillets nestled into the fruity tomato sauce, rather than being packed raw with olive oil and tomato—a difference that is evident in the firm, intact fillet. Packed into the tins by hand and wrapped individually in colorful paper, every tin leaves the workshop only after several manual steps.
They are caught using purse seine fishing, certified according to the MSC standard.
One of many recipes from Lisbon
A Banca da Sardinha is part of the Lisbon-based company Mediterran Food & Beverage, which has managed the brand since 2007 and expanded its range to include many recipes, from pure to fruity. We carry almost all of them, including this one as the only variety with a tomato base instead of olive oil or vinegar, and with 0.90 g of salt per 100 g, it is one of the milder salted options in our assortment.
It is precisely this range between classic and experimental that has taken the brand beyond Portugal to England, the USA, and here in Germany, where it has long had dedicated fans in the gourmet scene.
If you would like to sample the entire A Banca da Sardinha range, you will find mild, smoked, and spicy varieties side by side, along with other sardines from Portugal from different producers. Simply open and enjoy!
Contents 120 g – Drained weight 85 g