Spaghetti with Sardines, Dill, and Capers

Well, 2009 is flying by and I'm freshening up the blog a little bit. A little change of color and font, plus a new banner picture of the Moeraki Boulders in New Zealand. I even started a Twitter account, because a lot of food blogs have them and it's time I caught up.

Obviously, I'm seriously lagging behind, but I have a memory card full of pictures to post and I'm hoping to have this blog going again. It's been a long year... more than that, considering a lot has happened since mid-2008. D. and I got married (and the food... I can't wait to tell y'all about the food), we did a lot of traveling, I applied to grad school, was rejected from grad school, and now am reapplying. On top of that, it's been a long and rough emotional journey for the last year. A lot has happened and it's just one of those periods of life where I just had to shut down, withdraw, and re-emerge a little fresher.

If you think I'm out of the blogging game, then I hope you'll follow along as I try to catch up and recap some of my adventures. After all, still doing the eating/cooking bit... hope I still have a little corner of the interweb!

For now, I'm going to mention one of my new favorite recipes. I subscribed to Gourmet in the spring. It's funny that I never really read too much of Gourmet before, despite being obsessed with food. It was in the middle of one of these crazy life-upending moments that I picked up an issue and read through it. I had decided, of all things, to dye my hair. Never wanted to, never had the patience or time to, but my new (and awesome!) hairdresser convinced me to give highlights a try. Well, they involve sitting around and the salon had a copy of Gourmet. I was hooked, subscribed, and my first issue (May 2009) had this recipe. It's easy, fast, and it'll make you convert to sardines if you don't already like them. The recipe works best with sardines packed in olive oil.


Spaghetti with Sardines, Dill, and Capers
Gourmet, May 2009

1 pound spaghetti
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup drained capers, patted dry
2 cups coarse fresh bread crumbs (from a baguette)
1/2 cup chopped dill
2 to 3 (3 3/4-ounces) cans sardines in olive oil 4 garlic cloves

Cook spaghetti in a pasta pot of well- salted boiling water until al dente.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Fry capers until they "bloom" and are just a shade darker, about 2 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. Toast bread crumbs in same skillet, stirring, until golden, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and toss with capers, dill, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.

Add sardines to skillet with their oil (if using 3 cans sardines, discard oil from 1 can) over medium-high heat, then force garlic through a garlic press into skillet. Sauté until sardines are golden in spots around edges, about 2 minutes.

Reserve 1 cup pasta-cooking water, then drain pasta. Add pasta to skillet with cooking water and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Toss until pasta is coated and sauce is slightly thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve topped with seasoned crumbs.