Sardine linguine with capers and lemon

I think this is my new favorite home made pasta dish.

I never normally have sardines in my cupboard, but I found I had some randomly there so I decided to make a pasta with them.

It's fresh, light, and honestly took me to the mediterranean coast as I was eating it. I was so surprised by how it turned out so knew I had to share.

Prep time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 15 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients

200g fresh linguine

1 small tin sardines

1 fillet anchovy

1/4 red onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 cup parsley, chopped, stems reserved

10 cherry tomatoes, quartered

1 lemon, zested and juiced

1 tbsp capers

1 tsp chili flakes

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. In a hot fry pan, pour in the olive oil, red onion, anchovy, lemon zest and parsley stems, and sautéed until onions are translucent.

2. Once translucent, add in the sardines, breaking them up and mixing them in.

3. Next add the tomatoes and garlic and stir until fragrant. Then add the juice of one lemon. Be sure not to burn the garlic.

4. In the meantime, bring some heavily salted water to the boil and cook the linguine until just before al dente.

5. Drain the pasta, reserving some of the pasta water.

6. Pour about 1/4 cup of pasta water into the sauce, loosening it up and then add the pasta.

7. Let the pasta cook in the sauce until it has absorbed most of it, tossing in the chopped parsley and mixing it in for another 10 seconds before removing from the heat.

8. Serve straight away.

Notes

• If you dont have sardines you can swap for tinned mackerel or tuna. If you used tinned tuna you may need to add some extra oil and salt for flavor.

• For extra texture grill up some gremolata to sprinkle on top