Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent, a season well-known for the giving up of meat and focusing on eating the healthiest protein around: seafood.

This seafood season, the Caribbean’s seafood authority, Rainforest, has everything needed to fuel you and your family — from delicious fish fillets to scrumptious shrimp to seafood specialties like mussels, clams and lobster meat.

Your seafood season checklist:

To ensure you have a daily dose of deliciousness, the must-haves in your freezer should be: Snapper, lobster meat, shrimp, salmon, sardines, b6, and smoked marlin.

Sardine Fritters with a Spicy Aioli

Recipe by Oshane Rhoden

Ingredients:

2 cans Rainforest Sardines

2 cups flour

1 small tomato

1/4 bell pepper

1/2 onion

2 stalks escallion

2 sprig thyme, leaves removed

1/2 Scotch bonnet pepper

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 tsp all-purpose seasoning

1 tbsp vinegar

Oil, for frying

Method:

Drain sardine and remove bones and all the undesirable parts. Cut into smaller prices with a fork and add 1 tablespoon vinegar. Mix to combine.

Chop escallion, onion, tomato, bell pepper, Scotch bonnet pepper and set aside.

In a bowl, add flour, salt, black pepper and all-purpose seasoning; mix well.

Add all the chopped aromatics and the thyme leaves. Mix to combine.

Add sardines and mix. Pour water in and combine until you have a nice mixture. Taste and adjust seasoning to your taste, if needed.

In a heated skillet add oil and start dropping the mixture in using a 1/4 cup or spoon.

Fry on both sides until desired colour is achieved.

Remove each fritter when finished and place to drain on paper towel.

Serve & Enjoy!