Pasta con le Sarde

Pasta with Sardines

For a taste of Palermo try the pasta con le sarde. Every ingredient in this dish can be found on the island of Sicily. Freshness is the key to this dish’s success – all the ingredients need to be “singing.” Palermo is the birth place of pasta with sardines, a city with a lot of Saracen influence. Less than an hour is needed to prepare this pasta – don’t be reluctant to try it – the combination of ingredients will create a new taste sensation, one surely that you will want to experience again. It may even inspire you to see Palermo and the rest of Sicily!
Ingredients for 4:
2 lbs fennel bulbs, greens removed and reserved, bulb cut into sticks
3 lbs whole fresh sardines
Semolina flour, for coating
1 c extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium onions, minced
1 – 28-ounce can whole San Marzano tomatoes, drained and chopped
3 T pine nuts, lightly toasted
3 T dried currants or raisins, soaked and drained
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper (optional)
7-8 saffron strands
1 lb dried bucatini (spaghetti can be substituted)
Preparation:
In a hot frying pan, add olive oil and sauté fennel until caramelized.
Remove the heads of the sardines and pull out the backbones and entrails (save them for a fish stock). Select a few sardines, for garnish. Chop the rest of the sardines for the sauce, set aside. Season the sardines for garnish, to taste with salt and [pepper], and coat them with the semolina flour. In a small saucepan, heat ½ cup of olive oil over medium heat. When the oil begins to smoke, cook each flour-coated sardine until a light golden brown, about 1 minute on each side. Using a slotted spoon, remove the sardines from the pan and set them aside to drain on a paper towel or brown bag.
In the skillet with the caramelized fennel, add the onions, currants, tomatoes, pine nuts and saffron. Season, to taste, with salt and [pepper]. Bring the sauce briefly to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Add the reserved sardines and cook, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until the sardines have broken into pieces and are thoroughly mixed into the sauce, about 10 to15 minutes.
If the sauce appears too thick at this point, add a little of the pasta cooking water.
Bring 6 quarts of water and 2 tablespoons of salt to a rolling boil. Add the bucatini and cook until tender but still al dente. Drain the cooked pasta into a large serving bowl, add ¾ of the sauce and stir to combine. Top with the remaining sauce and the fried sardines.
This pasta tastes best if allowed to rest for several minutes, soaking up the flavors of the sauce, before it is served. Keep the pasta covered during this waiting period, then garnish with reserved fennel fronds.