Sardines Beccafico Eolian Style with caramelized onions in Malvasia.
A celebration of traditional and innovative flavors.
With this recipe, I want to take you back many years:
I was a little girl, and my grandmother Maria, who was from Panarea, used to prepare caramelized onions in Malvasia.
She then combined this condiment with various fish dishes.
Today, I’m preparing “My Sardines Beccafico Eolian Style with caramelized onions in Malvasia.”
As I was saying, it is a memory… in its aromas, in its colors, the scent of Malvasia
in the warmth of vincotto, the aroma of wild fennel, the saltiness of green olives and capers, the crunchiness of almonds,
the full-bodied taste of sardines.
Bluefish and poor fish from our seas.
To accompany everything, there is Sicilian-style seasoned breadcrumbs, which has been a manna for many populations of Southern Italy, especially, indeed, for Sicily.
Recipe winner of the Messintavola 2024 semifinals
I thought of these recipes for you:
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 2 Hours
- Preparation time: 1 Hour
- Portions: 4People
- Cooking methods: Stove, Frying
- Cuisine: Regional Italian
- Region: Sicily
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 1,552.99 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 137.99 (g) of which sugars 24.57 (g)
- Proteins 57.55 (g)
- Fat 69.75 (g) of which saturated 11.83 (g)of which unsaturated 13.70 (g)
- Fibers 12.52 (g)
- Sodium 1,271.70 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 400 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
Sardines Beccafico Eolian Style with caramelized onions
- 24 sardines
- 200 ml sweet white wine (Malvasia)
- 500 g Tropea red onions
- 40 g extra virgin olive oil
- q.b. salt
- 300 g sweet white wine (Malvasia)
- 50 g raisins (softened in the same Malvasia)
- 100 g green olives in brine
- 30 g salted capers (desalted)
- 1 tablespoon vincotto
- 60 g peeled almonds (toasted)
- 300 g breadcrumbs (from semolina bread)
- 1 clove garlic (chopped)
- 1 bunch chopped parsley
- 100 provola cheese (semi-aged)
- 2 tablespoons raisins (soaked in Malvasia)
- 50 g sweet white wine (Malvasia)
- 3 sprigs wild fennel
- 5 green olives in brine (pitted and chopped)
- 200 g semolina flour
- 2 tablespoons chopped almonds
- q.b. extra virgin olive oil
- 1 bunch wild fennel (blended in olive oil)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 50 g peeled almonds (toasted)
- q.b. vincotto
Sardines Beccafico Eolian Style with caramelized onions
Tools
What we need to make
- 1 Knife
- 3 Bowls
- 1 Colander
- 2 Pans
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Chopper
- 1 Immersion Blender
- 1 Oval plate serving
Steps
Sardines Beccafico Eolian Style with caramelized onions
I cleaned the sardines, removed the head and the central bone, simply by inserting my finger and sliding it down to the tail.I then rinsed them in seawater (if it’s difficult for you to get seawater, you can use lightly salted normal water).
I drained them and transferred them to a bowl to marinate in Malvasia, covering them until needed, which would be 3 or 4 hours. Meanwhile…
Let’s first prepare the caramelized onions so they have time to cool and better express all their flavor, contrasting with the freshly fried sardines.
I peeled and sliced the Tropea onions into slices about 1/8 inch thick.
I placed them in a pan with just 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt, so the salt would help release the necessary vegetable liquids for cooking.
The first phase of cooking was done with a high flame and a lid, occasionally uncovering and tossing them.
Then, about halfway through cooking (about 15 minutes), I added 300 ml of Malvasia, raisins previously soaked in the same Malvasia, desalted capers, and whole green olives in brine.
I added a few tablespoons of wild fennel oil, which was nothing more than a blend of fennel with oil.
and cooked them until they were wilted. Then I put them in the fridge to rest for at least an hour while I finished preparing the sardines.
When cold, the caramelized onion expresses its flavor better, never forget it.
For this recipe, I used stale semolina bread, which I dried not in the oven but in a ventilated fridge so it dried but didn’t become dry,
then it was grated, mixed with chopped parsley and fennel, without salt,
a chopped mix of 4 green olives in brine, a tablespoon of previously desalted capers, pepper, extra virgin olive oil, almond granules,
and semi-aged homemade provola from Nebrodi, both chopped and in small pieces.
As I said, everything is moistened not only by a little extra virgin olive oil, about 2 tablespoons, but also with a splash of Malvasia, another 2 tablespoons. I mixed everything, and, as you can see, I didn’t use salt since the saltiness of the seasonings allows us not to use more, and it will contrast with the sweetness of the raisins from Malvasia and the vincotto.
I placed a sardine underneath, a bit of stuffing, pressed it between my hands, and
a sardine on top, forming the beccafico.
Then, I placed semolina flour in a bowl and breaded them.
pressing gently to make the flour adhere well on all sides. The excess was then dusted off with a brush.
Once breaded, I quickly pan-fried them with hot extra virgin olive oil, 2 minutes on each side.
I took the caramelized onions in Malvasia out of the fridge, added some almonds on top, and…
Here and there I placed a few drops of vincotto and placed the sardines on top with a splash of fennel oil and a few drops of vincotto.
This is the recipe for you.With love, from me and the memories of my grandmother.
Recipe winner of the semifinal of Messintavola for the Messina Street food 2024.
Storage and Tips
Sardines Beccafico Eolian Style with caramelized onions can be stored in the fridge for a day.
To better savor the caramelized onions, the temperature should be ambient or cold and the sardines hot just fried.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
Sardines Beccafico Eolian Style with caramelized onions
Where does the name Beccafico come from?
The name comes from the “beccafico,” a bird that Sicilian nobles would eat after hunting.
The people, unable to afford this dish, reworked the recipe with sardines stuffed with breadcrumbs, raisins, and pine nuts.
