Just something I threw together on the spur of a moment.

Pasta with sardines, fava beans and tomato

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1 can skinned and boneless sardines, packed in olive oil
3 medium plum tomatoes, diced
1 shallot, peeled and thinly sliced
1 lb. fava beans
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup white wine
salt and pepper, to taste
chopped parsley

Peel fava beans. Discard bean pods. Bring a pot of water to a roiling boil, then add beans. Simmer for 1-2 minutes, then immediately shock in a bowl of ice water. The second skin of each bean should slip right off. Set fava beans aside.

Prepare pasta according to package directions. Drain when done, reserving 1 ladleful pasta cooking water.

Gently warm olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add shallot and cook until translucent, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes to the pan. Cook for about 5 to 6 minutes, or until tomatoes partially break down. Add sardines to the skillet. Mash with the back of a wooden spoon to break up into chunks. Add white wine, salt and pepper. Turn heat down to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in fava beans and parsley; cook for 1 to 2 more minutes. Adjust seasoning.

Add pasta directly to skillet. Toss. If sauce seems too dry, add reserved pasta cooking water, tablespoon by tablespoon until the desired consistency is reached. Serve at once.

Time: 1 hour, including prep. The majority of the time will be shelling the fava beans. If you don’t have any on hand or if you’d rather not spend time prepping, feel free to omit them.

This will be my submission to Presto Pasta Nights #222, a weekly foodblog event currently hosted by Tandy of Lavender and Lime and organized by Ruth of Once Upon A Feast.

12 Jul This entry was published on July 12, 2011 at 11:51 pm. It’s filed under cooking, food, food photography, general, Presto Pasta Nights, recipe, summer and tagged dinner, fava beans, food photography, pasta, recipe, sardines, tomatoes. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.