Scale and head the sardines. Rinse them under running water. Wash them by hand, gently separating them from the bone. Sponge them up. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and set aside in a container.
Dip the red pepper in very hot oil for about 1 minute. Drain it. when it has become lukewarm, remove the skin with a knife, open it and deseed it.
In the bowl of a blender, pour 1 dl of olive oil. Add the flesh of the red pepper and mix until you obtain a consistent foam. Add salt and pepper. keep this composition cool until it becomes firm as the oil solidifies (the bowl buried in a container with ice cubes will save you a lot of time). Add to this puree, 1/4 l of very firm whipped cream and 1 sheet of gelatin previously softened in cold water.
Thinly chop the courgettes and mushrooms. Cut into small pieces.
Fry everything quickly with a tablespoon of hot olive oil. Drain the vegetables as soon as they are slightly crisp.
Using a wet tablespoon, place a nice oval quenelle of pepper mousse in the center of 4 very cold plates. Refrigerate immediately. The body of the butterfly is thus constituted.
Heat a frying pan with a tablespoon of olive oil. When it becomes smoking, quickly sear the sardine fillets for about 5 seconds on each side. Blot.
Return to your plates and arrange a tablespoon of minced vegetables on each side of the quenelle in a small flat circle. Arrange 3 pan-fried sardine fillets on each round of vegetables. The wings of the butterfly are thus made. Using chive stalks, make the antennae longer for the head, shorter for the tail. The eyes can be made with 2 tips of black olives.
Make a normal vinaigrette with 3 tablespoons of oil and 1 of wine vinegar, salt, pepper. Drizzle each sardine fillet with this vinaigrette. Serve immediately with toasted bread.
You can also make this recipe with fresh anchovies. For the eye it is essential to carry out this dressing individually.
A little ingenuity, reflection, a butterfly is born. Many other things can emerge from your imagination.
Source:a recipe by Jacques Maximin taken from his book "Colors, perfumes and flavors of my kitchen" at Robert Laffont.
