Pasta con le Sarde
Region: Italy, Sicily
Category: Pasta with Fish
Season: Any
Difficulty: Medium Difficulty
Pasta con le Sarde is one of the most celebrated dishes of Sicilian
cuisine. It is a specialty of Palermo,
but there are variations throughout western Sicily. One version of this dish called alla sciacchitana, from the town of
Sciacca,  (2)LO.jpg)
which was founded by the Arabs, uses breadcrumbs and roast
almonds. Another, pasta con le sarde a mare, is the poor man’s version: The sardines
are still in the sea! This recipe is the
classic one.
One non-Sicilian writer described this dish as an “eyesore” to be rightly dismissed by another non-Sicilian writer Alberto Denti di Piranjo as clearly not a gourmand, a philosopher, or a historian. Here is Denti di Piranjo's rhapsodic recipe for pasta con le sarde.
Gather the fennels on the mountains where Pan’s reed pipe and the Oreads’ songs still echo. Fish the sardines in the seas where Athen’s triremes were beaten, and prepare them in the Muslim fashion, with raisins and pine nuts. The sun will have ripened for you the tomatoes to cover the pasta with a purple red mantle which will become golden in the oven received from Norman seamen.
An amusing legend about the birth of this dish is recounted by a number of writers. One writer cited Byzantine chronicles that claim Admiral Euphemius, when he landed in Mazara del Vallo in 827 at the head of the Arab invasion force, ordered his Arab cooks to prepare a meal. They found sardines in the harbor, wild fennel, pine nuts, saffron and currants in the hills and mixed them all together. I tried to trace this legend through the relevant chronicles of Theodosius Continuatus, Constantine Porphyrogenitus and Simon Logothete and also the Arab chronicle by Ibn al-Athir and never found this story. Then again, that’s what legends are for.
[photo: Clifford A. Wright]
Yield: Makes 6 servings
Preparation Time: 1 hour
Pinch of saffron, crumbled slightly
Salt to taste
2 pounds wild fennel or cultivated fennel, with stalks and leaves
1 pound bucatini (perciatelli)
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil plus 2 tablespoons
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
6 salted anchovy fillets, rinsed
2 pounds fresh sardines (16 to 24), gutted; head, tail, and dorsal fin removed, and back bone removed
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons currants, soaked in tepid water
2 tablespoons pine nuts
2 tablespoons tomato paste (optional)
1/4 cup almonds, peeled, toasted and crushed (optional)
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Dissolve the saffron in a small bowl with 2 tablespoons of tepid water.
3. Bring a large pot of water to a vigorous boil over high heat, salt abundantly, reduce the heat to medium, then cook the fennel until slightly resistant to a fork, about 10 minutes. Remove the fennel from the water and place in a strainer. Save the fennel water. Press the remaining water in the fennel out using the back of a wooden spoon. Chop the fennel into small pieces. Set aside.
4. Bring the fennel water back to a boil over high heat. Add a bit more salt and the pasta. Cook until half done. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the fennel water. Sprinkle the pasta with 2 tablespoons olive oil and toss well.
5. In a large skillet, heat the remaining olive oil over medium-high heat, then cook, stirring, the onions until translucent, about 6 minutes. Add the anchovies and cook until they disintegrate. Add half the sardines, reduce the heat to medium, and cook for 2 minutes. Add the fennel and salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, drain the currants and then add them along with the pine nuts and saffron to the fennel and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the pasta and mix well.
7. Butterfly the remaining sardines by spreading their split bellies open, making sure the two fillets stay attached to each other. Dissolve the tomato paste, if using, in the fennel water reserved in Step 3.
8. Put the pasta into a large baking casserole, preferably round and earthenware, and cover with any remaining sauce. Lay the butterflied sardines on top of the pasta and sprinkle with almonds, is desired. Top with the diluted tomato paste, if desired. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove and serve immediately.
Variation:
Note:
Posted: 09/07/2010