My friend Annie recently wrote about the health benefits of eating certain types of canned fish. If your idea of canned fish is limited to water packed tuna, then you’re in for a delicious surprise. High quality, oil packed sardines, anchovies, clams and more are a incredibly scrumptious – and convenient and healthy – thing to keep in your pantry.
I am a huge fan of sardines and often add them to pasta or make salads. But I usually just eat them as is, on a plate with a side of leftover vegetables and some bread for lunch. But this past weekend I turned things up a notch, and made this Bruschetta with Sardines and Broccoli. The inspiration for the recipe was not so exciting: a container of over cooked broccoli from dinner the night before. As you can see, it went from sad to sexy pretty easily.
Below is a video I made and the recipe. If you don’t have sardines, you can always sub in anchovies. And any slightly sad leftover overcooked veg will do just fine
Have a happy lunch!
Bruschetta with Sardines and Broccoli
Yield 1
Ingredients
- 1 slice whole grain bread
- 1 clove garlic, peeled
- salt
- red pepper flakes
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup cooked broccoli, room temperature
- 1 small can of sardines
- Lemon: zest and juice to season
Instructions
- Toast the bread (I did this over an open fire but feel free to use a toaster)
- While the toast is still hot, rub it with a garlic clove, place it on a plate and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt.
- Place the broccoli in a small bowl and mash with a fork. Season with olive oil (about a tablespoon,) salt and red pepper flakes. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Spread the broccoli on the prepared bread, top with a few anchovies. In the video you’ll see I didn’t use lemon (because I didn’t have any!) but it would be great with a final squeeze of lemon and grating of zest.
For more recipes from my Italian kitchen see my books The Italian Table and Eating My Way Through Italy.
And if you’d like to learn more about healthy eating in Italy, you can join my friend Dr. Annie Fenn in Sicily next September. Click here to request a brochure.
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