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Hello, this is Chef John from foodwishes.com with tin fish garlic noodles. That's right, we're combining two depression era classics. And whether you make this because it's very cheap to do, and using tin fish is very popular right now, or you maybe just want to experience something your grandparents might have eaten during that time. There's a very good chance this makes your regular recipe rotation. And to get started, we'll begin with the star of the show, one can of sardines. And the first tip here is do not try to pull the top all the way off. All right, 75% of cuts and 90% of spills happen when people try to remove that fully, so just leave it. And then our second big tip is make sure you buy the sardines that are packed in
olive oil, since we'll use that to help make our sauce. And it comes free with the sardines. So why some people drain that, I have no idea. But anyway, we'll transfer our tin fish into a bowl, which technically are aluminumed fish, but that just doesn't have the same ring to it. And then our third tin fish tip, do not look too close. All right, you'll see things that cannot be unseen. But the good news is any bones or fins or vertebrae are going to be as soft and succulent as the meat because of how this is processed. So we get to use all of it. Nevertheless, we will cover that as quickly as possible with the rest of our ingredients, including a ton of finely minced or crushed garlic, followed by some red chili flakes, if
you're doing the spicy version, which we are. And then we'll also add some freshly chopped Italian parsley, but not all of it. We'll save some to finish our noodles with. And then last but not least, we'll add some more olive oil, since there's not going to be quite enough in the can to do the job. And that's it, we'll take a fork and give this a thorough mashing. And that's it, once our sardine mixture has been properly forked, we will transfer that into the fridge, and we will move on to our second major component, which is going to be some torn pan fried bread, since the two depression era dishes that inspired this would be a sardine spaghetti and a breadcrumb pasta.
Except we are not doing crumbs. What we actually want to do here is tear up some day-old or fresh bread, both will work, into like jagged half or 1-in pieces. And while some people do the same type of dish with breadcrumbs, the better cooks during the depression era always use bigger pieces of bread like this, which once fried and incorporated into our noodles is going to give us something much closer to the texture of some chunks of meat. And for me, this is an absolute key to the dish. And once we do have our bread torn up as shown, we will head to the stove, and we'll place a nice big pan over medium high heat, and we'll transfer our torn bread in, along with a fairly generous amount of olive oil, plus a little pinch of salt.
And then what we'll do is cook these stirring and/or tossing until the outsides get beautifully crispy and golden brown, but the insides of the larger pieces still retain a little bit of chewiness. And that's what's going to give us as I touched on earlier, that sort of meaty effect we want, which I believe makes the final dish way more satisfying and interesting to eat. And by the way, once these start to crisp up, we can probably back our heat down to medium, since we don't want the smaller pieces to turn black before the rest of the pieces are cooked properly. And then once we're happy with how these are looking, and also how they're sounding, which should be something like this,
we'll go ahead and drizzle in a little more olive oil, plus a spoon of minced garlic, and we'll stir and toss that around for about 30 to 45 seconds, just to toast that garlic a little bit. And we don't have to add the garlic, since there's plenty in the pasta, but if I have some of these leftover, and I'm going to use them on a salad, it's kind of nice if they're already garlic'd. But either way, once these are set, we'll pull them off the stove and transfer everything into a bowl, and we'll reserve that until we need it. And once our two main components are prepped, we can go ahead and boil our spaghetti in some generously salted water as usual. And by the way, anything's going to work for this recipe. Okay, I named the dish
noodles, since that has a very broad appeal, and while I think the spaghetti works perfectly, some ramen noodles would work, or rice noodles would work, or pretty much any other kind of pasta you like. And then while our pasta is boiling, we will put that same pan back over medium high heat, and we will transfer in our gorgeous sardine mixture. And yes, I'm kind of kidding. All right, if the Great Depression had a color, this would be it. But that's fine, because it makes an absolutely gorgeous pasta, as you'll see. And what we'll do, just as soon as this mixture starts to fry in the pan, is give it a stir, and we'll just let it
cook for 30 seconds before we turn the heat off and wait for our pasta to finish cooking. And we don't really have to cook this, by the way, but I do like to take the raw edge off that garlic, just to mellow it out a little bit. But anyway, whether you cook that and for how long is up to you. I mean, you are after all the Herbert Hoover of what to do here. But in any event, once our pasta is cooked, we will use some tongs to transfer directly from the water into the pan, since we do want some of that pasta water coming with it. Plus, we're going to be adding some of that pasta water in to finish the sauce. And if you drain your pasta in the sink, that's not happening. But anyway, once that's transferred in,
we'll give it a good toss with our tongs, and we'll put our heat back on low to keep things warm. And then once we've stirred everything together, we'll splash in a few spoons of pasta water, and we'll give it another toss and observe, since that might be enough water, but it might not be. And you may very well decide to add some more in, which I did. Okay, it all depends on how creamy, quote unquote, you want your sauce. So keep splashing and stirring until you're happy. And when you are, and right here I was, we'll go ahead and turn off the heat, and we'll finish this up with some more freshly chopped Italian parsley, as well as some Parmesan cheese if we have it. All right, that's optional, but
it definitely makes the dish a lot richer and more delicious, I think. And then we'll also toss in about half our fried bread, and I generally go with the larger pieces, so we can save those smaller pieces to crumble over the top. And then I like to finish up with one more drizzle of olive oil before giving this a final toss. And of course, you probably want to taste for seasoning, although with the cheese and the sardine, there's probably going to be enough salt. And that's it, once everything's been stirred together, we can go ahead and serve up. And then as far as garnishing goes, I'm going to finish with a little more grated cheese, plus we'll take our reserved crispy fried garlic bread, and we will crumble
that generously over the top, and we'll finish up with one more pinch of parsley, and our tin fish garlic noodles are ready to enjoy. So I cleaned off the bowl and took way, way too many contractually obligated pictures before I grabbed a fork and spoon and dug in. And that, my friends, was so incredible in both taste and texture, I'm not sure which one I should discuss first. But let's go with the taste, which is very reminiscent of like a garlic clam pasta. All right, people would definitely know this is a seafood pasta, but unless you're super familiar with sardines, you might not even realize they're in here. And of course, a ton of garlic and parsley and olive oil and Parmesan don't
hurt. So I really do think the taste is exceptional, especially if you enjoy other garlic noodle recipes. All right, if so, you're really going to love this. And then as far as the texture goes, that crispy fried torn bread, which is definitely still crispy on the outside, as that softens slightly once it's mixed into the noodles, it really does feature quite a meaty mouthfeel. So while just a plain sardine spaghetti would have been nice, as would have been just a plain garlic olive oil pasta with the breadcrumbs on it, when we combine those two things together, I think we create something better than both those things on their own. And by the way, during the Great Depression, anyone that had room to
plant a garden did. So in the summer, if you have some tomatoes or peppers or zucchini or beans, go ahead and throw them in. All right, this is very adaptable, so have fun. But whether you add other things or not, I really think you're going to love these tin fish garlic noodles, which is why I really do hope you give this a try soon. So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much more info as usual. And as always, enjoy.
