About
The al pomodoro tin from the Anzio cannery that has been putting up Mediterranean sardines since the 1880s. A quarter of it is tomato sauce, built out with olive oil, celery, spices and salt, so the fish comes with its own dressing. More sauced and softer than the plain oil tin, and closer to a meal.
Tomato sauce is a quarter of what is in the tin. Beside it sit the sardines, olive oil, celery, natural flavours, spices and salt. The tomato adds sweetness and a bit of acid, which lifts an oily fish, and the oil carries the savoury weight underneath. Celery is on the label, which is worth knowing if anyone at your table avoids it.
The cannery works on the seafront at Anzio, south of Rome, and takes only Mediterranean fish. Tomato and spicy recipes were added by the Sepe family once they took over the business in the 1950s.
Warm the tin through and tip it onto toasted ciabatta with basil and a pinch of salt. Otherwise stir the lot, sauce included, through spaghetti with garlic and chilli.
Producer note
Sardine Pollastrini has canned at Anzio since 1889 and remains the only Italian house working with Mediterranean sardines. It has been owned since the 1950s by the Sepe family, who came to it from generations of fishing.
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