Easiest Way to Make Appetizing Sicilian stuffed sardines

Sicilian stuffed sardines. Arrange the rolled-up sardines on the fennel, scatter over the remaining crumb mixture, then pop the slices of lemon and bay leaves in the gaps. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil and season with sea salt and pepper. Sarde a Beccafico is a traditional Sicilian dish of butterflied sardines stuffed with a sweet and savory mixture of bread crumbs, pine nuts, currants, anchovies, garlic and parsley.

Discover more: Sardine Recipes Stuffed sardines is a typical Sicilian fish course particularly associated with the city of Palermo. The basis of the dish, which is well-known and appreciated throughout Italy, is the sardine, a tasty and filling fish that has been included in the list of traditional Italian food products. Stuffed Sardines Beccafico ("Sarde a Beccafico" - "Sardi a Beccaficu") Beccafico (Sylvia borin), a Sylvidae bird is larger, meatier and more exquisite than a sparrow, nests in Tuscany and passes over Sicily in spring and in the fall for the winter migration. You can have Sicilian stuffed sardines using 14 ingredients and 3 steps. Here is how you cook it.

Ingredients of Sicilian stuffed sardines

1. You need 85 g of fresh breadcrumb.
2. You need 50 g of black olive, stoned and roughly chopped.
3. You need of large handful parsley, roughly chopped.
4. It's handful of mint leaves, finely chopped.
5. It's 1 of lemon, zested and sliced.
6. You need 4 of anchovy fillets.
7. You need 1 of garlic clove, crushed.
8. Prepare 25 g of pine nut.
9. You need 25 g of sultana.
10. You need pinch of chilli flakes (optional).
11. It's 1 of large fennel bulb, finely sliced, fronds reserved.
12. It's 3 tbsp of olive oil.
13. You need 8 of sardines, butterflied with tails kept intact.
14. You need 8 of bay leaves.

These birds were stuffed and cooked in the kitchens of the nobles and wealthy by the Monsù, the famous Sicilian cooks serving. Clean sardines of scales, head and guts, Then pry one side open with the aid of a knife, making sure you leave the. other side attached, as in picture to the right. Pull away the bone going along the whole fish. Lightly dust the stuffed sardines in flour.

Sicilian stuffed sardines step by step

1. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Put the breadcrumbs, olives, parsley, mint, lemon zest, anchovies and garlic in a food processor, and blitz until everything is roughly chopped. Tip into a bowl and stir through the pine nuts, sultanas, chilli flakes (if using) and a good grinding of black pepper. Arrange the fennel slices in a small roasting dish and drizzle with a little olive oil.
2. Working methodically, lay each fish fillet, skin-side down, on your work surface, cover with some of the crumb mixture, then drizzle ½ tsp olive oil over each. Roll up the fillets, leaving the tails sticking up. Use a cocktail stick to secure, then stuff a little more of the crumb mixture into the sides..
3. Arrange the rolled-up sardines on the fennel, scatter over the remaining crumb mixture, then pop the slices of lemon and bay leaves in the gaps. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil and season with sea salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for 20 mins until the fish is cooked through and the crumbs are golden and crisp in places. Serve scattered with the fennel fronds..

Recipe for Sarde a beccafico - Sicilian Style Stuffed Sardines from Palermo Recipe by Anna Tasca Lanza. Lay the sardines on a flat surface, skin-side down. Spread a heaping tablespoon of the filling on top and roll the sardine up to the tail. Thread onto a skewer tail-up with a bay leaf. In this stuffed sardine recipe, fresh sardines get a cheesy filling before being cooked in olive oil.