Spanish Sardines Pasta

Spanish sardines pasta is a pasta dish made with penne pasta, spanish sardines, oil, tomatoes, onion, garlic, olive oil, pepper and salt. It is savoury, hearty, and slightly spicy, just enough to fill your tummy for a whole meal. With the canned spanish sardines, this pasta dish can be prepared in no time! Add the spanish sardines pasta in your menu for the day.r menu for the day.

SPANISH SARDINES PASTA RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 2 cups penne pasta
• 1.5 liter water
• A pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 1 can (155 grams) Spanish Sardines
• 2 tomatoes (sliced)
• 1 small onion (minced)
• 5 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt to taste
• ½ teaspoon ground pepper

Directions:

1. Pour the water into a pot and bring to a boil. Add some salt and oil. Stir a bit. Add the penne pasta (or your preferred pasta) and cook until al dente. Cook according to the packaging instructions. When cooked, drain the water and set aside.
2. Heat some olive oil (or any oil) in a pan. Add the garlic and onions and saute for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes and saute until soft and the juice comes out.
3. Add a whole can of Spanish sardines (any brand) in the pan. Gently crush the sardines into flakes. Sprinkle some salt and pepper to taste.
4. Once the sauce is boiling, add the cooked pasta per batch. Toss gently until well coated with the sauce.
5. Lastly, sprinkle some dried basil leaves. Turn the heat off.
6. Transfer the Spanish Sardines pasta to a serving plate. Top with a lot of grated cheese before serving. You may also add some whole sardines on top.  Enjoy this with some garlic bread. Yum!

A LONG AND SPIRAL PASTA HISTORY

If you’re guessing that the pasta originated from Italy, then you’re right. The term “pasta” is literally an Italian word which means “paste”. This can be attributed with the making of the pasta from scratch, where egg, flour and water are combined to create a paste / dough.

There are a lot of versions of the pasta history which we can confirm. But it was known that during the exploration of the famous Marco Polo, he discovered the pasta from the natives which combined egg and barley to make into a dish. This combination were the first to be used in creating early pasta dishes.

Pasta dishes are now heavily popular over the world. The classic sauces evolved through time, making us enjoy the pasta more. What’s your favorite pasta sauce? Share it in the comment section below!

YOUR PASTA, YOUR CHOICE

When in the grocery, you might notice that there are different shapes and sizes of pasta. At first, you may think that these differences were just for fun or for preference, but the shapes and sizes of pasta are really there for a reason.

Different shapes of pasta holds different kinds of sauces. For example, the angel hair is a type of pasta which is long and thin. You might partner this pasta with a thin sauce or else you might overwhelm it or taste only the sauce when you have a bite of it. Another example would be tube-like pastas like macaroni and penne. Both can hold thin and thick sauces but if your sauce is chunky, you need this type of pasta so that the chunks can get in, and you’ll enjoy both the sauce and the pasta in one bite.

The penne pasta, a tubular pasta, is used in this recipe.

WHAT IS SPANISH STYLE SARDINES

Spanish style of sardines is not your regular sardines. For a quick history, the concept of this sardines came from the town of Galicia in Spain, where they processed their sardines to be soaked and then packed with virgin olive oil. This results to a silver sardines which is firm and not mushy.

The concept of canning made this version extra sumptuous. The preparation of the spanish sardines include adding different seasonings in the can such as peppercorns, carrots, pickles, herbs and spices together with the sardines in the olive oil. This process results to the hearty, spicy and delicate flavor of the spanish sardines which we all like.

There are a lot of Spanish sardines brands out in the market which made satisfying your cravings easier. No need to create one at home, just open a can and you’re good to go!

SPANISH SARDINES PASTA

Spanish sardines pasta is one of my fave types of pasta dish. If you have been with me all these years, you know that I want to share tipid hacks while having a delicious meal. I’ve been transforming different canned goods into a delightful dish but is still easy on the budget, since using them is much cheaper than preparing the products on your own. It also saves us a lot of time!

I enjoyed the pasta I made using sardines in tomato sauce so this time, I tried one using the Spanish sardines. I usually eat my spanish sardines as an ulam. More often than not, I throw the excess oil since I cant use it as a sabaw (too oily and too spicy!). I always felt like I am wasting all the flavors in the excess oil if I throw them away.

Since I also love the aglia oglio dish, I tried the spanish sardines with pasta instead of the usual ulam to my rice. Having the pasta with the yummy oil neutralizes some of the spicyness, making the taste balanced and just right.

If you want to make the spanish sardines less spicy, or simply tired of having it as an ulam, making this spanish sardines pasta is a unique way of enjoying your spanish sardines!

If you wanna know how to make some spanish sardines pasta, read and follow the easy steps below. Happy cooking!

HOW TO MAKE SPANISH SARDINES PASTA

Making the spanish style sardines pasta is truly effortless especially once you have your spanish sardines on hand. The availability of canned sardines  makes this recipe extra convenient to those who craves for it.

Start with cooking your pasta. I used penne pasta for this recipe but you can choose any pasta you like. Cook the pasta by following the packaging instructions. Once done, wash the pasta a bit using cold water, and then set aside until we finish our sauce.

Unlike other sauces, expect our spanish sardines sauce to be a thin one with some chunks of sardines. This is also the reason why I choose the penne pasta — for the thin oily sauce to stick gently and the small chunks of sardines to go into the tube.

Start making the sauce by sauteing your aromatics. I used olive oil for this recipe but you can use any neutral oil (or just get some oil from the spanish sardines). Trust me that you want to put a lot of garlic in this one! Since the oil is spicy, let’s add some tomatoes for slight acidity. Crush them gently while sauteing to incorporate it well in the sauce.

Add the spanish sardines and crush them into flakes. Some brands still have peppercorns and bay leaves in it so just remove them. You can leave the carrots if you like. 

When the sauce and pasta is ready, time to combine them together. Add the pasta in batches to make sure that everything is well coated with the sauce. You can add any topping you like such as dried basil leaves or parmessan cheese. I also topped mine with whole sardines! Consume the pasta immediately while hot. Yum!

COOKING TIPS

• If you have seen our recipe blog in spanish style bangus, you can also try using that instead of the spanish sardines so that everything is homemade!
• Instead of just dried basil leaves, you can try sprinkling Italian seasoning for a mixed herb flavor.