When I first posted this on Facebook, I was glad to find that my fellow home cook and close friend Kevin 'Liked' this dish. You see, my good friend has interesting quirks with food. He doesn't like chicken (the horror, I know) and frowns upon recipes that he doesn't consider challenging (this is someone who could make baumkuchen and the most amazing honey-flavored fruit cakes).
As much as I love challenging myself like Kevin, when hunger strikes and that jar of Portuguese sardines is looking at me in the eye--it's time to whip something filling... something speedy and easy... and spicy... something like--
Linguine with Portuguese Sardines
Linguine with Portuguese Sardines is my little twist to the classic Aglio e Olio recipe by using the flavorful and spicy corn oil (where the sardines were preserved) as the base for the pasta sauce. Aglio e Olio is a simple pasta dish that has olive oil and sautèd garlic as the base for the pasta sauce. Corn oil could be heavier in flavor (and density) compared with olive oil, so I added more pasta water to balance the flavor and oiliness.
Having the sardines and the spiced oil into the sauce already makes this sufficiently salted. I suppose, adding cheese with a milder flavor like mozzarella slivers could go well with it. Our house only had quick melt cheese when I made this so I had to make do....
Ingredients
around 50 g of linguine cooked according to package instructions
1/3-2/3 cup of pasta water
5 sardines from a regular sized jar of Portuguese style sardines (hot; as seen on the link )
5-7 tbsp spiced corn oil of Portuguese style sardines (with the spices, bay leaf and chili intact)
2 cloves of garlic; crushed
grated cheese or mozzarella slivers
Directions
1. In a deep-set pan, heat the oil and stir occasionally.
2. Once oil is hot enough, sautè the garlic until golden brown.
3. Add the sardines. You could remove the skin and debone the spine from the sardines before sautèing it into the garlic-infused oil.
4. Using your spatula, slice them into thirds. So you'll have some chunks of sardines in the sauce.
5. Quickly add in the linguine (assuming you started cooking the sauce while pasta was boiling).
6. Mix well until the sauce coats pasta. Gradually add in about 1/3 cup of pasta water.
7. Then, simmer for 5-6 more minutes.
8. Serve hot on a nice (fanceyyy~ and microwaveable/heat-resistant) plate and add cheese.
9. Either you nuke it for 6 seconds to melt the cheese or run it under a preheated oven (200 degrees C) just long enough to melt the cheese to get that nice creamy contrast to the fire-y sauce.
My younger bro doesn't really love eating sardines (especially the ones that come in cans and drenched in tomato sauce). Ironically, he fights with me over a jar of the same sardines preserved in spicy corn oil (oh, men and double standards~).
I enjoyed my plate of linguine with Portuguese sardines with a tall cold glass of mango juice. So tropical--YUM! d(^v^)/
This isn't something you'd have with some fancy tea.
But, I bet this goes well with a fizzy drink :D
Cola haters gonna hate~
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