Easy Cheesy Luncheon Melt

Sometimes the use of the word sardine conjures up images like schools of millions of fish, or people packed together too tightly on a subway car.

Out here in Downeast Maine, the word sardine brings back memories of peoples’ grandparents working by the sea in canning factories where millions and millions of these tiny, succulent fish were harvested and prepared. And eaten. Still today they are a local favorite and are a surprisingly tasty and quick lunch ingredient.

By today’s standards people often imagine the factory work as cruel, grueling work but folks here have fond memories of being at their grandparents homes where pots of clam chowder cooked on woodstoves in the rugged old Cape Cod style homes next to the tidal rivers that crisscross the coast for miles.

Then the whistle would blow and the town folks would know a shipment of sardines had arrived down at the factory and the workers would walk down the streets to the edge of the water and work for a few hours or days, and then return home to wait for the next shipment.

So when I cease to be I want to go back … to the sea! Oh for the life of a sardine! That is the life for me!

Charlie Chaplin

At one time there were more than 50 factories that employed over 6,000 people. Today, Bar Harbor Foods® is the last remaining cannery in the state.

Here is a great article by the New England Historical Society about Maine’s sardine industry and the good jobs it provided: https://newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/sardines-bigger-lobsters-maine-women-good-jobs/

Ingredients:

1 (6.7-ounce) can Bar Harbor® Skinless, Boneless Smoked Sardine Fillets

1 tablespoon mayonnaise

1 teaspoon Raye’s® Sea Dog Beer Mustard

2 slices whole wheat bread

2 thick slices tomato, cut in half

4 slices Havarti or American cheese

1 Dill Pickle

1 Spring Onion

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400-degrees F. Drain any juice from the can of sardines into a bowl and whisk with mayonnaise and mustard; set aside.

Toast both slices of bread and evenly spread mayonnaise mixture on one side of each slice. Place on a baking pan.

Evenly divide the sardines onto both slices of toast. Place 4 half slices tomatoes on top of each mound. Bake for 3 minutes, remove from oven and top with cheese. Bake an additional 4 minutes, or until the cheese has melted. Remove from oven, garnish with dill pickles and spring onion.

Serve immediately.