Sarde a Beccafico

Ingredients

• 700g fresh sardines
• 150g coarse breadcrumbs
• 50g raisins
• 50g pine nuts
• 4 salted anchovy fillets
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• Juice of 1 orange
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 12 bay leaves
• 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and black pepper

Before you cook

• Soak the raisins in warm water for 30 minutes, then drain and roughly chop them.
• Scale the sardines, remove the heads and pull out the backbones, leaving the tails on.
• Open each sardine flat like a book and rinse it.
• Pat the sardines dry and lay them skin side down on a board.

Steps

1. Warm 3 tablespoons of the oil in a frying pan.
2. Add the breadcrumbs and toast them for 4 minutes, until golden.
3. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the anchovies until they melt into the crumbs.
4. Mix in the raisins, pine nuts, parsley, sugar and a good grind of pepper.
5. Moisten the stuffing with a squeeze of the lemon juice, so it just holds together.
6. Heat the oven to 200C.
7. Spread a teaspoon of stuffing over each opened sardine.
8. Roll each sardine from the head end towards the tail, so the tail stands up like a little fin.
9. Pack the rolls upright in an oiled baking dish, slipping a bay leaf between every pair.
10. Mix the orange juice, the remaining lemon juice and the last of the oil with a pinch of salt.
11. Spoon the citrus dressing over the sardines.
12. Scatter any leftover crumbs across the top.
13. Bake for 15 minutes, until the crumbs are bronzed and the tails have curled.
14. Rest the dish for 10 minutes and serve it warm rather than hot.