Pasta con le Sarde | Sicilian Sardine Pasta Recipe

This Sicilian recipe sounds a little strange to the uninitiated, but those in the know tend to rank it as one of their favorite dishes. The name simply means “pasta with sardines,” although this title doesn’t really do justice to the other ingredients (such as fennel and saffron) which make this recipe so delicious.

Pasta con le Sarde | Sicilian Sardine Pasta Recipe

It’s an unusual pasta dish, with a unique taste that keeps obsessed foodies coming back for more. As amazing as this recipe is, the dish does come with a tricky challenge for many who aim to recreate it at home…

Fresh Sardines

The delicate flavor of an authentic plate of pasta con le sarde depends upon an ingredient that, depending on where you live, can be difficult to find: fresh sardines. Most of us are familiar with preserved sardines, which have a very strong taste. When fresh, the fish have a completely different flavor. Unfortunately, fresh sardines aren’t widely available in places where they aren’t culturally common, and substituting them with preserved sardines will yield drastically different results (although it can still be a good recipe). If you want to make the real deal, there’s no getting around the need for fresh sardines.

However, Sicilians do have a tweaked version of this recipe that skips the sardines entirely. While it’s obviously not going to taste like pasta con le sarde, it does come closer to the original flavor than simply substituting fresh fish with preserved sardines. This recipe is called…

“Pasta con le Sarde a Mare”

The name of this alternate recipe means something along the lines of “pasta with sardines still in the sea.” It uses the same basic technique and ingredients as the original (with a few small but important tweaks) but omits the sardines entirely.

To make Pasta con le Sarde a Mare, make the following adjustments to the recipe below:

• Do not dissolve the saffron in water, add it directly into the sauce when called for

• Use four anchovy fillets instead of two

• Skip the sardines completely

• When adding the saffron, pine nuts and raisins, also stir in 1 tablespoon (15 g) of tomato paste and ½ cup (120 ml) white wine

How to Prep Fresh Anchovies

If you’re lucky enough to have fresh sardines available, you’ll need to prep and clean them. We recommend wearing latex gloves to do so. The video above shows the technique.

Begin by pulling the fish’s head off and discarding it. Slide a finger inside and along the belly to open the sardine. Remove and discard the innards, then pull out and discard the spine, bones and tail (they should pull cleanly out in one piece). Thoroughly rinse the sardine under cold water then cut it in half, lengthwise, to yield two fillets.

Watch the Pasta Grammar video:

PASTA CON LE SARDE RECIPE

Makes: 2 servings

Cook Time: 30 to 40 minutes

For this recipe, you will need:

• ¼ cup (40 g) raisins

• A pinch of saffron

• Salt

• Green fronds of 2 to 3 fennel bulbs (avoid using the thick, white part of the stalks)

• Extra-virgin olive oil

• ½ cup (65 g) bread crumbs

• ¼ red onion, diced

• 2 anchovy fillets

• 3 tablespoons (30 g) pine nuts

• 12 fresh sardines (see above for how to clean and prep the fish)

• Fresh black pepper

• 7 ounces (200 g) bucatini pasta

Place the raisins in a small bowl of water to soak. In a small glass, stir the saffron into 2 tbsp. (30 ml) of room temperature water until it dissolves. Set the saffron water aside for later.

Bring a large pot of water to boil (you’ll need enough to cook the pasta later) and salt it generously. Add the fennel fronds into the water and boil for 5 to 7 minutes—until the stalks are tender. Remove the fronds with a slotted spoon and finely chop them. Keep the water simmering for later.

While the fennel fronds cook, you can prepare the bread crumb pasta topping. Heat 2 tbsp. (30 ml) olive oil over medium/high heat in a small skillet. Add the bread crumbs and toast them, stirring frequently, until they begin to brown. Set aside for later.

Add 3 tbsp. (45 ml) olive oil into a large non-stick pan, along with the diced onion and anchovy fillets. Heat over medium/low heat, stirring frequently, until the anchovies dissolve into the oil. Drain the raisins and add them into the sauce, along with the saffron water, pine nuts, and sardine fillets. Increase the heat to medium, bring the sauce to a simmer, then stir and cook the fish for 2 minutes.

Stir the chopped fennel into the sauce, along with a generous pinch of salt and fresh black pepper. Let the sauce simmer for 5 minutes. Taste the sauce and add salt if needed, then turn off the heat while the pasta cooks.

Bring the fennel water back to a boil and add the bucatini. Cook as directed, but for 2 to 3 minutes less than the recommended “al dente” cook time. When the pasta is done, drain it with a spaghetti fork or tongs and transfer it into the sauce.

Continue to cook the pasta in the sauce over medium/high heat until the bucatini is al dente to your taste. If the sauce thickens too much, ladle in some of the pasta water as needed to maintain a simmer. When the pasta nears completion, stop adding pasta water so that the sauce can thicken.

Serve immediately, topped with the toasted bread crumbs.

Buon appetito!