Traditional Sicilian sardine dish - BeccaficoThese pictures will not do justice to how these little sardine parcels taste. They are a traditional Sicilian dish called Beccafico. The lovely Pina made them one night and they were absolutely amazing. The next day we went to a very charismatic bookseller on the street (he was an ex-professor) and he said I should buy this one cookbook in particular as it contained the best Sicilian recipe - Beccafico. It was a very strange moment as we had had that for dinner the night before!

Beccafico are sardines filled with a crumb mixture which includes: egg, Parmesan cheese, fresh parsley, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper. This mix is then stuffed into the fillets of sardines and then baked in the oven with olive oil drizzled on top and underneath. It doesn't take long at all, I think cleaning the sardines may be the most difficult but at the markets you can buy them ready for baking. Will have to check at our local fishmonger if they sell these.

And this dish doesn't taste like the horrible salty sardine you find hidden behind a pizza topping, it was a lovely taste, almost like a little hors d'oeuvre that you can pop in your mouth.