Yummy sardines, nostalgic food

When I was a little boy, a man on a motorcycle used to come to the small villages in southern Lebanon and sell fish. Wintertime was reserved for sardines, tiny sardines.

My mother would buy about three pounds, remove the heads and the guts, clean the fish and marinate them with lemon juice and rosemary.

A few minutes before dinner, my mother would fry them in hot oil until they turned crunchy, then serve them with sesame-paste sauce and a side of French fries and tabbouleh.

I recently visited the fish market on Warren Avenue in Dearborn, and I saw the little fish. I could not help but buy two pounds and asked them to fry them until they turned crunchy.

We made hummus and tabbouleh and ate every little fish in the pan. They were delicious.