Pasta con le sarde
Bucatini with fresh sardines, wild fennel, saffron, pine nuts and raisins
Pasta con le sarde is Palermo’s signature pasta: bucatini with fresh sardines, wild fennel, onion, saffron, pine nuts, raisins and anchovy, topped with toasted breadcrumbs.
The story
Sardines from the sea and wild fennel from the hills, with the saffron, raisins and pine nuts often linked to Sicily’s Arab centuries: few dishes say more about the island. Cooking the pasta in the fennel water gives it a gentle aniseed flavour throughout. Toasted breadcrumbs, muddica atturrata, take the place of cheese.
Ingredients
Method
1Cook the fennel
Boil the fennel in a large pan of salted water for 10 minutes. Lift it out, squeeze dry and chop. Keep the water: you will cook the pasta in it.
2Toast the breadcrumbs
Toast the breadcrumbs in a dry frying pan with 1 tablespoon of oil, stirring, until golden. Set aside.
3Make the sauce
Warm the remaining oil in a wide pan and cook the onion gently for 8 minutes. Add the anchovies and stir until they melt. Add the drained raisins, pine nuts, saffron with its water and the chopped fennel and cook for 5 minutes.
4Add the sardines
Add the sardine fillets and cook for 5 minutes, breaking them up gently with a wooden spoon. Season and add a ladle of the fennel water.
5Cook the pasta
Bring the fennel water back to the boil and cook the bucatini until al dente. Drain, keeping a cup of water, and toss with the sauce, loosening as needed.
6Serve
Serve topped with the toasted breadcrumbs. No cheese.
Tips for success
- Ask your fishmonger to fillet the sardines.
- Wild fennel has a stronger flavour than bulb fennel fronds; the dill helps close the gap.
Variations
- Palermo also bakes it: layer the dressed pasta in a dish, top with breadcrumbs and bake for 15 minutes.
- Pasta con le sarde a mare (“with the sardines still at sea”) makes it without fish, for when there are none.
Making ahead and storing
Best eaten straight away.
What to drink
A Grillo or a Catarratto from western Sicily.
Pasta con le sarde: your questions
Can I use tinned sardines?
Fresh sardines are traditional and much better, but good sardines in olive oil, added at the end just to warm through, make a quick version.
Why no cheese?
Sicilian fish pasta is not served with cheese. The toasted breadcrumbs give the crunch and savouriness instead.
Cooked it? Show us.
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