Sarde a beccafico are stuffed butterflied sardines wrapped around a breadcrumb, pine nut, raisin and orange-zest filling, tail-up in a baking dish, the Palermitan signature antipasto.

Sarde a beccafico was a 19th-century Palermitan reinvention of the noble dish 'beccafichi' (small songbirds stuffed and roasted). When ordinary Sicilians could no longer afford songbirds, butterflied sardines stuffed with the same filling took their place; the rolled shape and arranged tray mimics the original presentation.

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