When you have premium sardines, they need only a plate and some good bread. This is dinner in ten minutes: toasted bread rubbed with garlic, a handful of peppery greens, and the tin opened. The lemon oil in the sardines does the work.

Serves 2. 10 minutes, 8 at the stove.

About 230 calories a serving, 13 g protein, 39 g carbohydrate, 5 g fat. From USDA figures for 100% of the ingredients; amounts are the recipe's.

Cook mode

1. Heat the oven to 400°F [200°C]. While it warms, halve the garlic clove lengthwise. Arrange 4 slices of crusty bread on a sheet pan and toast until the surface is golden and the interior gives slightly to pressure, about 3 minutes.3 min
2. Pull the pan from the oven. Immediately rub both sides of each warm slice with the cut garlic until the surface is fragrant and rough; discard the garlic. Tear the bread into rough pieces and divide between two bowls.
3. Toss 2 cups of bitter greens (arugula, chicory, or endive) with salt and pepper, then scatter over the bread. Open the tin of sardines and pour the whole thing—fish and oil—over the salad. Toss gently and serve at once.

Note Swap the greens for any raw vegetable that turns crisp in acid: thin-sliced fennel, radishes, or red onion all work. Leftover sardines stay fresh in their tin, unopened, for weeks; if opened, cover and refrigerate for two days. Serve with a glass of white wine and call it supper.