Dear friends, today we offer you a classic and traditional Sicilian First Course: Bucatini con le Sarde.
With this recipe we breathe the island deeply, and even if we will not be physically there, when we prepare and eat Pasta with Sardines we will be able to emotionally transport ourselves to the warm Sicilian sun.
Fennel, sardines, anchovies, raisins and pine nuts .... a combination of flavors, textures and aromas that make Bucatini with Sardines and Fennel an unforgettable dish!
There are many variations of the recipe, some do not include saffron, others fennel, someone prefers short pasta, this is the traditional version prepared by Cucine dal Mondo 5 for you.
Serving size 4:
300 g of pasta bucatini
400 g of sardines
200 g of wild fennel
1 onion (pref. golden)
30 g of raisins
30 g of pine nuts
2/3 anchovy fillets
1 packet of saffron
extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Breadcrumbs
Procedimento:
Clean the fennel well keeping only the tenderest part, wash and boil it in water for five minutes. Drain it and keep the water to cook the bucatini
Soak the raisins in water.
Clean the sardines well, depriving them of their heads, fish bones and tails.
Pour the oil into a large pan, fry the onion cut in small pieces, add the anchovy fillets and the saffron dissolved in a little bit of water. Add pine nuts and the well squeezed raisins to the mixture, then the sardines.
Finally incorporate the fennel (chopped), cover and cook another two minutes, using the pasta cooking water as required.
Bring to boil the water where the fennel was cooked, add salt and pour the pasta.
In a pan, toast the breadcrumbs with a little oil.
Turn the heat back on under the sauce with the sardines, drain the pasta and whisk everything.
Leave to rest for a minute and serve with the toasted breadcrumbs and a pinch of pepper.
Wild fennel: it grows spontaneously in arid areas. In Sicily it is used both fresh and dried in many traditional recipes
Wines:
Contessa Entellina Ansonica, white wine with scents of the Mediterranean bush.