Pasta with Preserved Sardines

By John, 16 July, 2020
Region
Italy
Description
Pasta with Preserved Sardines

This simple dish is known in Sicily as Pasta alla Milanese, or "pasta for the people of Milan". That's because Milan is well inland, so Sicilians who went north for work could not get the fresh fish that features so prominently in Sicilian cuisine, so they had to used preserved sardines with their pasta.

This is a very simple dish, but the flavor is unique and the people who tried it all liked it. I suppose it helps the poor homesick Sicilians of Milan! 

Yield
4 Servings
Preparation time
20 minutes
Ingredients
2 T Olive oil
1 Onion (finely chopped)
2 c Crushed tomatoes
5 Basil leaves (torn)
5 Sardine fillets in oil (about two tins)
1 lb Long Dried Pasta
Instructions
  1. Put on a pot of salted water to boil for the pasta.
  2. Saute the onion in the oil over moderate heat until translucent.
  3. Stir in the tomatoes and the basil and bring to a simmer.
  4. Break up the sardines and stir them into the tomato mixture.
  5. Add a ladleful of water from the pasta pot to the tomato mixture, and cook the pasta.
  6. Bring the sauce to a simmer for as long as it takes to cook the pasta.
  7. Drain the pasta and stir it into the sauce.
  8. Serve hot with grated cheese.
Source
Sicily the Cookbook