Pasta con le Sarde
Servings: 4 -6
Ingredients
- ¼ cup unrefined cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil (feel free to use the oil from the sardine tins)
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 fennel bulb very thinly sliced, fronds reserved
- 3 garlic cloves chopped
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Optional: ½ teaspoon fennel seeds crushed on a cutting board with a knife
- Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
- ½ cup dry white wine such as sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, or pinot grigio
- ⅓ cup dried currants or raisins try golden raisins if you can find them
- 6 anchovies about a 1.5 to 2-ounce jar (optional)
- 3 4-ounce tins sardines packed in oil, drained (you can use the oil to sauté the vegetables)
- ¼ cup pine nuts toasted* (optional or use another nut like walnuts)
- 1 pound pasta of your choice the dish is typically made with BUCATINI, a hollow spaghetti
- Kosher salt
- Fresh breadcrumbs toasted in olive oil in a skillet if you like for garnish
Instructions
- In a large pan that is big enough to fit the pasta, warm the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and fennel and sauté until the onion is tender and translucent and the fennel has almost softened, about 6 minutes.
- Add the garlic, salt, pepper, fennel seeds (if using), and crushed red pepper and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the wine and currants and cook until the liquid is almost fully reduced.
- Add the anchovies and sardines, breaking them up in the pan with a wooden spoon, until heated through. Add the pine nuts and toss to combine.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season the water with a handful of kosher salt. Add the pasta and cook until al dente. Reserve some of the pasta water (about 1 cup) before draining the pasta. Add the pasta to the pan with the sardine mixture and toss to combine. You can add some pasta water or a drizzle of olive oil to the pasta mixture if it looks a little dry. Garnish with reserved fennel fronds.
Notes
You can serve with toasted breadcrumbs if you’d like.
*To toast pine nuts, add them to a dry skillet over medium-low heat. Stir them around frequently until golden brown. Immediately transfer them to a plate so they don’t continue to brown in the hot skillet.
Make it plant-based: omit the anchovies and sardines, and add in a can of chickpeas, drained and smashed + ¼ cup capers.
Here are some other ways to try tinned sardines. Just read the package to make sure you’re getting what you want, such as in oil, bone-in or boneless etc.
• In a salad in place of tuna, an easy one to try is in a Nicoise Salad
• On toast with tomatoes and smashed avocado
• Chop them up and stir them into tomato sauce
• Swap them in place of other canned fish in a fish cake or fish patty
• Chop them up and add them to braised greens
• They’re natural with potatoes. Add them to my Italian Potato Salad
• In a salad in place of tuna, an easy one to try is in a Nicoise Salad
• On toast with tomatoes and smashed avocado
• Chop them up and stir them into tomato sauce
• Swap them in place of other canned fish in a fish cake or fish patty
• Chop them up and add them to braised greens
• They’re natural with potatoes. Add them to my Italian Potato Salad