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Sarde a Beccafico recipe is a traditional Sicilian dish. It's a very good recipe based on sardines stuffed with a filling of bread crumbs, pine nuts, raisins and chopped parsley.Bake with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and orange juice and you get a real taste of Sicily! Like many traditional Sicilian recipes, Sarde a Beccafico combine sweet and savory flavors.
On a cutting board place one anchovy at a time and with a sharp knife first slit open the belly and remove the entrails. Then cut off the head and finally remove the spine. Detach the spine very gently but let the tail intact.
Rinse under running water then open them being careful not to break the anchovies. Pat with kitchen paper to dry out the water. Set aside
In a frying pan, toast the bread crumbs with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of fine salt. Stir often or the bread crumbs risk sticking to the pan.
Transfer the bread crumbs to a large bowl. Add a teaspoon of sugar, the raisins - previously soaked in warm water for about 30 minutes - the pine nuts, the chopped parsley, a pinch of fine salt to taste, the juice of half an orange and some of its grated rind.
Mix everything well. The mixture must be compact. If not, add a little more orange juice.
Stuff the sardines: put a knob of filling at the base of the sardine, on the side where there was the head and roll it up, leaving the tail in view.
Finish filling all the sardines. Then take a baking sheet, grease it with about two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and place the sardine "rolls" on it very gently.
Pour the juice of half an orange and complete with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of fine salt.
Alternate the sardine rolls with bay leaves and very thin slices of orange, inserted between a row of sardines. If you have leftover filling, you can sprinkle it on the surface. If not, you can use just a little bread crumbs.
Bake at 180°C (350 F) for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven: Sarde a Beccafico is ready! Better if served cool.