Pasta with Sardines / Pasta con le Sarde
SERVES 6
Sardines with pasta called bucatini, a thick hollow spaghetti, was always part of the seven-course fish dinner Nonna Saporito served on Christmas Eve. In this version of her recipe, I’ve substituted Florence fennel for her beloved wild fennel, and canned sardines for fresh, both of which are difficult, if not impossible, to find here.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup Filippo Berio olive oil
- 2/3 cup dried bread crumbs
- 2 medium onions, finely minced
- Three 4-ounce cans sardines in olive oil, drained and coarsely chopped, oil reserved
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 1/4 cup currants
- 1 pound store-bought bucatini or spaghetti
- 1 Leafy tops ofbulb fennel, tied together with kitchen string
- 1/2 teaspoon powdered saffron
- Fine sea salt to taste
- INGREDIENTS
Directions
- In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add the bread crumbs and cook, stirring, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
- Add the remaining olive oil to the pan, then add the onions and cook until the onions are soft. Add the sardines with their oil and cook gently for about 3 minutes. Stir in the pine nuts and currants. Remove from the heat.
- Bring 6 quarts of salted water to a boil in a large pot. Add the fennel tops and bucatini or spaghetti, and cook until the pasta is al dente. Just before the pasta is cooked, remove ½ cup of the cooking water and dissolve the saffron in it; set aside. Scoop out the fennel, untie it, and chop the leaves fine. Set aside.
- Drain the pasta and add it to the sardine mixture. Heat the pasta and sardines over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. Stir in the saffron water and fennel leaves and add the salt.
- Place the pasta and sardine mixture on a large serving platter. Sprinkle with the bread crumbs and serve immediately.
- Note: It is not customary to serve grated cheese on fish pastas.
This recipe was featured on Season 5 - Episode 501.
Comments
Em
Hi MaryAnn
I tried getting this recipe from you years ago but you couldn’t remember the episode only difference I remember you using collard greens and fennel seeds any way I have the jest of it and can make it the way I remember. It’s different and delicious
Thank You so much for your expertise in Italian cousin
And the lady that made the dish for you, is she still cooking?
Take care and good cooking to you
Sincerely Em