Pasta with Sardines and Chilli

Sardine, lemon and chilli linguine brings back memories of trips to Italy in summer, with flavours that remind of the salty sea air. Sardines make for a very reasonable mid-week meal, as well as being a sustainable fish too.

linguine or spaghetti (300 g)
pasta water (100 mL)
1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. clove garlic, crushed
½ lemon, freshly juiced
2 Tbsp. fresh basil, chopped
1 tin sardines, packed in spring water
1 tsp. chilli flakes

Boil the linguine according to the pkg instructions (~ 8 minutes). Save 100 mL (a small cupfull) of pasta water. Drain and drizzle extra-virgin olive oil into the pan. Give a good mix. This stops the pasta sticking together.

Heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil in a frying pan and add the crushed garlic. Fry for a minute. A squeeze of juice from ½ a lemon. Re-add the pasta back into the frying-pan and stir into the juice/garlic.

Sprinkle on the chopped basil and add the pieces of sardine. Mix and fry together for a minute. Add the chilli flakes (optional). Serve.

Cook’s Notes:

• I would not recommend having any leftovers of this recipe. It only serves 2-3, so I’m sure you can manage to eat it all. It’s the sort of recipe that is best made fresh. Long pasta doesn’t do well re-heated. It becomes sticky and rubbery.
• I would not even recommend freezing this recipe. Both freezing and re-heating are of course possible, but I wouldn’t do it personally.