1966 WDEC - Tomato Aspic with Sardines and Eggs

I was planning to make tomato aspic with some vegetables, but made it with sardines and eggs instead, to serve as a lunch dish or stand-alone main course instead of a side.

Tomato Aspic with Sardines and Eggs
(to serve 4 - 6 as a light main course or side)
3-1/2 cups tomato juice
1 celery stalk, cut up
1 onion, chopped
1/2 lemon, cut [I didn't quite know what that meant, so I cut it in quarters]
1 tsp ground basil
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
Dash of cayenne
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup cider vinegar
4 sardines
2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut into 6 wedges each
5 large ripe black olives, quartered
(other garnishes or inclusions to taste)

Combine tomato juice with vegetables and seasonings. Cover and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Strain through several layers of moistened cheesecloth. Soften gelatin in vinegar and stir until dissolved. Add to strained tomato mixture and stir until dissolved. Chill until aspic is of the consistency of unbeaten egg white.

Lightly oil a mold. Arrange eggs, sardines, and olives in mold and carefully pour chilled aspic over. Alternatively, gently fold these ingredients into the aspic. Chill until firm.

Cooking Notes: Aside from omitting the sugar and salt (because I used prepared tomato juice that had salt in it already) all ingredients were to spec.

I made this before the World Cup final match, so that it could set during the game and be an easy dinner dish. Everything started out to plan. The sauce simmered away, and I hit upon draining it efficiently by laying the cheesecloth in a bowl so that it was hanging over the edge on all sides, adding the tomato mixture to the bowl, then pulling the cheescloth into a little sack and tying it over my kitchen faucet as shown in the picture below.

I then carefully laid out the sardines, the eggs, and the olives just so, as shown in the next picture.

Unfortunately, it now was 2:15. Half time was not going to be long enough for me to take a break and deal with the aspic besides. So, although the aspic wasn't yet thickened to the desired egg white consistency, I carefully poured it in, figuring that if I were careful enough everything would be fine. I forgot, though, about things floating. The eggs stayed basically in their little channels and the sardines happily stayed sunk on the bottom, but the olives weren't so well-behaved. Oh, well, I wanted to be there at the toss, so it just went into the fridge as it was. As it turned out, this was the right decision. I sat down just as the toss was made, and by half time the aspic already was too set for me to have worked with even if I'd wanted to.

The result, shown above just out of the fridge, was a bit of a jumble, but basically fine. When cut, as shown below, it was hard to tell that the olives weren't intended to just be floating.

Eating Notes: Refreshing and filling, the sardine/egg/tomato combination is classic enough to be comfort food without being too heavy. Visually, it is attractive both molded and sliced, which adds to the appeal. Worthy of guests or just fun for a summer day.