AI-generated image
Sarde a beccafico
Stuffed sardine rolls
Sarde a beccafico: Palermo's sardine rolls stuffed with breadcrumbs, raisins and pine nuts
ItalianIn Palermo, sarde a beccafico are a working family's take on a noble dish: the aristocrats once stuffed small birds called beccafichi, while ordinary people made the same sweet-savoury filling of breadcrumbs, raisins, pine nuts and orange and rolled it inside fresh sardines. Rolled up with their tails sticking up and baked between bay leaves, they look a little like the little birds they are named after. They are served as an antipasto or a main with salad, warm or at room temperature. Chef's tip: toast the breadcrumbs in olive oil until golden before mixing the filling; raw crumbs turn pasty and grey inside the fish.
- Total time
- 60 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
For the sardines
- 16 fresh sardinesabout 600 g, butterflied and boned by the fishmonger
- 16 bay leavesfresh if possible
- 1 orangejuiced, zest grated
- 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
For the filling
- 2 ⅞ oz dried breadcrumbs
- 1 oz raisins or currantssoaked in warm water for 10 minutes
- 1 oz pine nuts
- 2 anchovy fillets in oilchopped
- 3 tbsp flat-leaf parsleychopped
- 1 tsp sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Shop this recipe on Amazon
Spices & pantry
Fresh ingredients (2)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Heat the oven to 375°F (350°F fan). Rinse 16 fresh sardines, pat them dry and lay them skin side down.
Step 2: Warm 3 tablespoons of 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and toast 2 ⅞ oz dried breadcrumbs for 3–4 minutes, stirring, until golden and smelling nutty. Take off the heat and stir in 2 anchovy fillets in oil until they melt.
4 minStep 3: Mix in the drained 1 oz raisins or currants, 1 oz pine nuts, 3 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, 1 tsp sugar, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp black pepper, the zest of 1 orange and 2 tablespoons of its juice. The filling should clump when pressed.
Step 4: Put a spoonful of filling on each sardine and roll it up from the head end towards the tail, so the tail sticks up.
Step 5: Pack the rolls snugly in an oiled baking dish, tails up, with a bay leaf from 16 bay leaves between each one. Scatter over any leftover filling, then drizzle with the rest of the orange juice and the rest of the oil.
Step 6: Bake for 15–20 minutes, until the fish is opaque and flakes when pressed. Common mistake: baking them too long; sardines dry out fast, and the filling should still be moist. Serve warm or at room temperature, and discard the bay leaves as you eat.
20 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 420 kcal
- Protein
- 26 g
- Carbs
- 26 g
- Fat
- 24 g
- Fibre
- 3 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does sarde a beccafico take?
- About 60 minutes in total: 40 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- What can I use instead of bay leaves?
- Leave it out, or a pinch of dried thyme (it's a background flavour).
- What can I use instead of orange?
- Mandarins or clementines, same weight.
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Boiled pasta
The basic method for any dried pasta, from penne to spaghetti. A large pan of salted boiling water keeps the pasta from sticking, and you cook it only until just done, with a little bite left. Use it in salads, bakes or with any sauce.
Moreton Bay bugsSlipper lobster with garlic butter
Moreton Bay bugs are the flat, shovel-nosed slipper lobsters caught off the Queensland coast around Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, and for Queenslanders they are a summer treat, split and grilled at the beach house. The tail meat is sweet and rich, somewhere between lobster and prawn. Buy them raw, frozen or fresh, from a fishmonger and ask them to halve them if you like. A common mistake is overcooking, which makes the meat rubbery; it is ready the moment it turns white. Chef's tip: grill flesh side down first to mark it, then turn and baste in the shell.
Australian
All i pebreEel and potato paprika stew
In El Palmar and the other villages around the Albufera lagoon south of Valencia, the restaurants that are famous for paella serve something older first: all i pebre, "garlic and pepper", a brick-red stew of lagoon eel and potatoes thickened with a pounded almond and fried-bread picada. It is rich, garlicky and gently hot, eaten with bread to mop up the sauce. Ask your fishmonger to skin and cut the eel, and handle it with gloves: raw eel blood is irritating, though harmless once cooked. If you can't find eel, monkfish or hake works well. A common mistake is letting the paprika burn; it turns bitter in seconds, so add it off the heat. Chef's tip: break the potatoes with a knife instead of cutting cleanly; the rough edges release starch and thicken the sauce.
Spanish