Active Time

　　5 minutes

　　Total Time

　　5 minutes

　　Sardine rillettes are the simplest—but no less delicious—form of rillettes, requiring only two motor skills: opening a can of good sardines and smashing things together with a fork.

　　This recipe was excerpted from 'À Table' by Rebekah Peppler. Buy the full book on Amazon. Get more of our favorite sardine recipes →

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What you’ll need

　　Chevron

　　Chevron

　　Sardines Packed in Olive Oil

　　$17 At Amazon

　　Mixing Bowls

　　$40 At Target

　　Black Pepper

　　$8 At Amazon

Ingredients

　　2 (5-oz.) tins sardines packed in oil

　　½ lemon, zested and juiced

　　6 Tbsp. salted European butter, at room temperature

　　Freshly ground black pepper

　　Crusty bread, for serving

　　Drain the sardines from their oil, reserving the oil for another use. In a medium bowl, add the sardines and lemon zest and use a fork to crush the sardines into small pieces. Add the lemon juice, butter, and pepper and use the fork to mix together until combined. Season with more pepper if desired and serve with bread.

　　Cooks' Note

　　If you don’t have salted butter on hand—or it’s very lightly salted—season with fine or flaky sea salt.

　　Reprinted from À Table: Recipes for Cooking and Eating the French Way by Rebekah Peppler with permission by Chronicle Books, 2023. Photographs © Joann Pai. Buy the full book from Amazon or Chronicle Books.