Sardine Balls in Sauce, or Polpette di Sarde al Sugo: Polpette are generally meatballs. However, the word polpetta doesn't imply any particular ingredient -- it's more of a shape, a ball assembled from ground ingredients held together by a binder of some sort, be it egg or potato, and if one wants, one can start with fish. Sicilians do...
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2 1/4 pounds (1 k) fresh sardines
- 1/4 pound (100 g) crustless day-old bread, crumbled
- 1 tablespoon pine nuts, chopped
- 2 tablespoons freshly grated pecorino (optional; I would use mild romano here)
- 1 tablespoon raisins, chopped
- 1 egg
- A small bunch parsley, chopped
- 2 cups (500 ml) tomato sauce, simmering in a pot
- Flour
- A bay leaf
- Dry white wine
- 2/5 cup (1 dl) extravirgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Preparation:
...and I was quite fortunate to be served these, prepared by a chef from Palermo, at a dinner organized in Slowfood's Salone del Gusto a couple of years ago. The ingredients above will serve 4.
Clean the sardines, removing their heads and boning them; chop them and put them in a bowl. Soak the bread in warm water for a few minutes, squeeze it to remove the excess moisture, and add it to the bowl, together with the parsley, the cheese, the raisins, the pine nuts, the egg, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.
Moisten your hands and shape the mixture into small fish balls; roll them in flour, and sauté them in a large skillet with the olive oil and the bay leaf. Once they are browned, sprinkle some white wine over them. When the wine has evaporated, use a slotted spoon to transfer the fish balls into the pot of simmering tomato sauce. Cover and cook over a low flame for 40 minutes.
If you instead want to serve fried fish balls, omit the pine nuts and the raisins, and increase the cheese to 3 tablespoons. In this case you should flatten the fishballs slightly, and you'll need more oil to fry them in.
Clean the sardines, removing their heads and boning them; chop them and put them in a bowl. Soak the bread in warm water for a few minutes, squeeze it to remove the excess moisture, and add it to the bowl, together with the parsley, the cheese, the raisins, the pine nuts, the egg, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.
Moisten your hands and shape the mixture into small fish balls; roll them in flour, and sauté them in a large skillet with the olive oil and the bay leaf. Once they are browned, sprinkle some white wine over them. When the wine has evaporated, use a slotted spoon to transfer the fish balls into the pot of simmering tomato sauce. Cover and cook over a low flame for 40 minutes.
If you instead want to serve fried fish balls, omit the pine nuts and the raisins, and increase the cheese to 3 tablespoons. In this case you should flatten the fishballs slightly, and you'll need more oil to fry them in.
