Sardine and tomato spaghetti
20 min · 36 g protein · 502 cals / serving
A store-cupboard spaghetti that tastes like a Sicilian trattoria: garlic and chilli in olive oil, a quick sauce of tinned and cherry tomatoes, a tin of sardines per person broken into big flakes, capers, lemon zest and a bag of spinach wilted in. Twenty minutes from kettle to bowl.
Ingredients
- 8 1/2 oz whole wheat pasta, wholewheat spaghetti
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 cans (14 oz each) diced tomatoes, chopped tomatoes
- 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, whole; they burst in the sauce
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 cans (about 4 oz each), drained sardines, in olive oil or spring water
- 1 tbsp capers, rinsed
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 10 packed cups baby spinach
- up to 1/4 cup water, pasta cooking water, only if it looks dry (optional)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- a handful fresh parsley, chopped
Steps
- Put the kettle on. Warm the oil, garlic and chilli flakes in a large, wide frying pan over a medium heat until the garlic sizzles and turns pale gold, about 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste for 30 seconds, then the tinned tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and salt, and simmer briskly 12 minutes, stirring now and then and pressing the cherry tomatoes with the spoon once they burst, until thick.
- Meanwhile, pour the boiled water into your largest pot with a good pinch of salt, bring back to the boil and cook the spaghetti 1 minute less than the packet says.
- For the last 2 minutes of the sauce, add the sardines, capers and lemon zest and break the fish into big flakes with a spoon, without stirring too much.
- Scoop out a mug of the pasta water, then drain the spaghetti and return it to its pot. Tip in the sauce, then add the spinach a handful at a time, tossing over a low heat for a minute or two until it wilts and the sauce clings. Add a splash of the pasta water only if it looks dry. Finish with the lemon juice and parsley and serve straight away.
Good to know
Do I take the bones out of the sardines?
No need: tinned sardine bones are soft enough to eat and break up into the sauce, and they are where a lot of the calcium is. Pull out the spines if your family prefers.
Can I use regular spaghetti?
Yes, it cooks a minute or two faster and tastes a little milder, at about the same score.
Anything crunchy on top?
Toast 3 tbsp of breadcrumbs in a dry pan until golden and scatter them over, the Sicilian way.
Per
- Calories
- 91
- Protein
- (28%)
- 6 g
- Fat
- (31%)
- 3 g
- Carbohydrates
- (41%)
- 10 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
- Sodium
- 181 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 2010 kcal goes into the pot and 2094 g of ingredients comes out as about 2210 g of food: 91 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.