Name: Sarde a Beccafico (Baked Stuffed Sardines)
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 800 g/1¾ lb fresh sardines or thawed frozen sardines; 50 g/2 oz/⅓ cup sultanas/golden raisins, soaked in warm water for 15 minutes; 120 ml/4 fl oz/½ cup olive oil; 50 g/2 oz/⅔ cup pine nuts; 60 ml/4 tbsp fresh white breadcrumbs; 30 ml/2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley; sea salt and ground black pepper; 6 salted anchovies, rinsed, dried and boned; 3-4 dried bay leaves

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Italian Regional Cookbook

By Valentina Harris

Published 2017

About

Beccafico, literally translated from the Italian as ‘pecker of figs’, are little birds that like to hang by their feet from ripe figs and peck away at the sweet flesh of the fruits. You might (or might not!) see a resemblance between them and the stuffed sardines, with their rounded bellies and beak-like tails. This particular recipe comes from the eastern side of Sicily.