Boil one-half pound of vermicelli in salted water, drain, and mix with
two tablespoons of olive-oil and a little chopped-up parsley. Then set
to one side to get cool.
Take five smelts, split them, take out the bones, and fry them
slightly in one teaspoon of olive-oil.
Butter a pan and sprinkle it with bread crumbs. Then put into it
one-half of the cold vermicelli. Pour over this some thick tomato
sauce (one tablespoon of tomato paste cooked in two tablespoons of
olive-oil). Then put in the smelts cut in two, some anchovy, a few
capers, and three or four ripe olives chopped up with one mushroom.
Then add the rest of the tomato sauce, then the other half of the
vermicelli, and on top a layer of bread crumbs. Season all well with
salt and pepper. Put the pan into a moderate oven, and cook about an
hour and a quarter, adding a little olive-oil when necessary, so that
it will not dry up too much.
Any fish may be used instead of the smelts, cutting it into thin
strips.