PASTA WITH SARDINES
(PASTA WITH SARDINES AS PREPARED IN AGRIGENTO)
Pasta with Sardines – an “excellence” among the first Sicilian dishes – is included in the list of Italian Traditional Agri-food Products (P.A.T.) of the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies.
The dish has its origin in Palermo, where, traditionally, is made in white, but it exists an Agrigento version made with the tomato sauce.
Clean, wash and cook the fennel in abundant salted water.
Squeeze it, cut it into small pieces and sauté it in a pan with the spring onion, oil and anchovy fillets.
Brown the finely chopped onion, add an anchovy, the tomato sauce, raisins, previously soaked and the pine nuts.
Add salt and pepper.
Boil the sauce and, when it’s half-cooked, add the scaled sardines, cleaned and opened as a book.
Try to eliminate the side and back fins as much as possible … the sauce will be more velvety.
Finish the cooking process for other 10 min.
In a non-stick pan, brown the breadcrumbs with a few drops of oil and set aside.
Cook the pasta, leaving it a little al dente, and, once ready, season it with the sardine sauce, then add the fennel, prepared previously, and serve.
Serve with a sprinkling of toasted breadcrumbs on top.
INGREDIENTS FOR 4 PERSONS
- 500 gr. of bucatini pasta
- Tomato sauce
- 1 onion
- 2 anchovies
- 2 spons of raisins and pine nuts
- 800 gr. of very fresh sardines
- 4 bunches of wild fennel
- 1 spring onion
- Salt and peppers
- Extra vergin olive oil
- Breadcrumbs
CONDIVIDI
