Sardine alla Beccafico

Name: Sardine alla Beccafico (Rolled Baked Sardines)
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 125 g (4½ oz) dry breadcrumbs; 2 tbsp soft raisins (soaked beforehand if necessary); 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil; 18 fresh bay leaves; 16 very fresh sardines, heads removed, butterflied open and backbone removed; juice of 2 large oranges; 2 tbsp pine nuts; Salt and pepper; Salt and pepper

Rolled Baked Sardines

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Carluccio's Complete Italian Food

By Antonio Carluccio and Priscilla Carluccio

Published 1997

About

This celebrated Sicilian recipe is called beccafico because the rolled sardines resemble the little birds fig peckers’ of which Italians are — or were — very fond.

Ingredients

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
125 g (4½ oz) dry breadcrumbs

Europe
Italy
Fish course
Pescatarian
Mediterranean
Sicily

Method

In a frying pan, heat the olive oil and fry the breadcrumbs gently, stirring with a wooden spoon, until toasted and brown. Allow to cool.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Add the raisins, pine nuts, the juice of 1 of the oranges, salt and abundant pepper to the fried brea