Sicilian Baked Sardines with Fennel, Orange, and Almond Breadcrumbs
Potatoes and fennel roasted until brown at the edges, sardines laid over the top, and a crust of coarse breadcrumbs, toasted almonds, orange zest, and chopped dates broiled until it crackles.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Sicilian cooks stuff sardines with sweetened breadcrumbs, pine nuts, and currants and call the result sarde a beccafico, after a little bird that eats figs. Rolling individual fresh sardines is a Saturday project. This is the weeknight version of the same set of flavors, built on a sheet pan: the crumbs and the dried fruit and the orange all go on top rather than inside, and canned sardines slide in for the last few minutes so they only warm through. The sweet and savory combination is genuinely Sicilian and it surprises people who expect fish to be treated plainly.
It is a dish of contrasts that all arrive in the same forkful. The crust is dry, toasted, and slightly sweet where a piece of date has caramelized. The sardines are soft, oily, and salty. Fennel goes silky at the center of each wedge and frizzled at the edges, and the potatoes underneath are dense and starchy and have soaked up the fish oil and orange juice. Lemon squeezed over the whole pan at the table cuts a straight line through all of it. If you have only eaten sardines cold on toast, this is the preparation that changes their reputation.
This is a good pan to bring to the table on a dark evening when you want something that looks like more effort than it was. Almost all of the time is the oven roasting the vegetables, and the last five minutes under the broiler are the only part that needs watching. I make it when I have a box of sardines in the cupboard and a fennel bulb going soft in the drawer, which is more or less monthly. It does not want a side dish, though a bitter salad with more lemon on it would not be unwelcome.
Ingredients
- 3 (4.4-oz) tins sardines in olive oil, drained (about 12 oz drained)
- 1 lb Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch wedges
- 1 large fennel bulb, cored and cut into thin wedges, fronds saved
- 1 small red onion, cut into thin wedges
- 2 thick slices day-old whole wheat bread, torn and pulsed into coarse crumbs
- 1/3 cup sliced almonds
- 1 orange, zested and then peeled and cut into segments
- 3 pitted dates, chopped small
- 2 1/2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, plus wedges to serve
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt, since the sardines bring their own
Instructions
- Roast the vegetables: Heat the oven to 425°F. Toss the potato wedges, fennel wedges, and red onion with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the salt, spread them on a large sheet pan in one layer with space between the pieces, and roast for 25 minutes. Turn everything once at the halfway point. The potatoes should be brown at the corners and the fennel should be collapsing and gold at its tips.
- Make the crumb topping: While the pan is in the oven, tear the bread and pulse it in a food processor to coarse crumbs, the size of small gravel rather than sand. Toss the crumbs with the sliced almonds, the chopped dates, the orange zest, half the parsley, and the remaining tablespoon of olive oil until every crumb is lightly coated.
- Add the sardines: Pull the pan out and scatter the orange segments among the vegetables, squeezing any juice from the membranes over the pan. Lay the drained sardines on top in rows, spacing them so each plate will get three. Handle them by the tail end and keep them whole.
- Broil the crust: Scatter the crumb mixture evenly over everything, concentrating it on the sardines. Switch the oven to broil and slide the pan onto the upper rack for 3 to 5 minutes, watching it the entire time. It is ready when the crumbs are deep gold and you can hear them crackling. Almonds and dates both catch quickly, so pull it the moment the color is right.
- Finish and serve: Squeeze the lemon juice over the pan, scatter the remaining parsley and any reserved fennel fronds over the top, and bring the whole pan to the table. Serve with a wide spatula so the crust comes up with the fish and the vegetables underneath, and pass lemon wedges.
Variations
- Pine nuts and currants: Swap the almonds and dates for pine nuts and currants, which is the classic Sicilian pairing for this crust.
- With capers and olives: Scatter a tablespoon of rinsed capers and a handful of torn green olives over the vegetables before the fish goes on.
- Blood orange: Use a blood orange when they are in season, for a sharper, darker juice and a deeper color in the pan.
- Saffron potatoes: Steep a pinch of saffron in a tablespoon of hot water and toss it with the potatoes before roasting.
- Over greens: Serve each portion on a bed of arugula so the hot pan juices wilt the leaves underneath.
Storage & Leftovers
The pan keeps three days covered in the refrigerator, with one thing to know: the crumb crust softens overnight and there is no getting it back to a crackle. What you have on the second day is a moist, savory, orange-scented mixture that is very good cold, mashed onto toast with black pepper.
To reheat, spread a portion in a small dish and give it eight minutes in a 375°F oven rather than the microwave, which turns the sardines pasty. If you want the crust crisp again, hold back a few tablespoons of the crumb mixture, keep it in a jar, and toast it fresh over the reheated portion.
It does not freeze. Potatoes go grainy, fennel goes limp, and the crumbs turn to paste. If you want to work ahead, cut the vegetables and mix the dry crumb topping up to two days early and keep them separately in the refrigerator, which leaves you with a pan that goes straight into the oven.
Notes & Tips
- Tear the bread, do not grind it: Coarse, uneven crumbs the size of small gravel toast into something with real crunch. Fine crumbs turn into a sandy layer that goes soggy the moment it meets the fish.
- Give the vegetables room: Potatoes and fennel crowded together steam rather than brown. Use the biggest sheet pan you own, or split them across two, and leave space between the pieces.
- Drain the sardines properly: Tip each tin against its lid and let it sit for a minute. Excess packing oil pools on the pan and keeps the crumbs from crisping.
- Handle the fish by the tail: Canned sardines are soft and break easily in the middle. Lifted from the tail end with two fingers, they stay in one piece all the way onto the pan.
- Zest the orange before you peel it: Zest comes off a whole fruit easily and off a peeled one not at all. It is the single ingredient that makes this taste Sicilian rather than simply of the coast.
- Stand at the oven for the broil: Three minutes and five minutes look identical for the first two and a half. This is the one step in the recipe you cannot walk away from.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Sardines, fennel, and potatoes divide the work on this pan. The fish brings the salt, the richness, and nearly all the protein, the fennel brings sweetness and a clean anise note, and the potatoes underneath give the plate its weight and soak up everything that drips.
- Sardines are small fish meant to be eaten whole, soft bones included, and those bones are where the calcium sits. They carry omega-3 fats and vitamin D as well, which is why three of them anchor a plate as full as this one.
- Fennel roasted in wedges turns sweet and almost silky at the center while the outer layers frizzle. It brings soluble fiber and potassium, and its anise flavor is what makes the orange in the crust feel inevitable rather than novel.
- Toasted almonds and coarse whole wheat crumbs give this pan its crackle. The almonds bring vitamin E and a little more calcium, and toasting them under the broiler is what brings their oils and their smell to the surface.
- Orange zest and segments, chopped dates, parsley, and a squeeze of lemon are what push a savory pan of fish and potatoes into sweet and sour territory. The vitamin C from the citrus also helps your body take up the iron from the sardines and the almonds.
- As you eat, listen for the crackle of the crust against the softness of the fish underneath, and let the sweet and salty pull of a Sicilian pan hold your attention for the length of the meal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use fresh sardines?
Yes, and it is closer to the original. Butterfly and bone six fresh sardines, lay them skin side down over the vegetables, and put them in for the full five minutes of broiling. They cook very fast, so the crust and the fish will finish at the same moment.
What if I do not like fennel?
Use thick wedges of cabbage or halved small zucchini in its place, roasted the same way. You will lose the anise note that makes this taste Sicilian, so add a half teaspoon of crushed fennel seed to the crumb mixture to bring it back.
The crumbs burned. What happened?
A broiler is faster than anybody expects and the sliced almonds and dates in the mixture both catch before plain bread does. Stay at the oven door for the whole three to five minutes, and if your broiler runs hot, move the pan down a rack.
Should I use sardines packed in oil or in water?
Oil-packed ones stay softer and taste rounder, and they hold together better when you lift them onto the pan. Water-packed sardines are firmer and plainer, which works fine here, though the crumb topping will want an extra half tablespoon of olive oil if you go that way.