Recipe: Pasta with Fennel And Sardines and Pasta with Sardines (Pasta con le Sarde)

PASTA WITH FENNEL AND SARDINES
(PASTA CON LE SARDE)
Source: New York Times, Oct. 2, 2009
Makes 4-6 servings

2 packed cups mixed greens of fresh fennel fronds, dillweed and a few ground fennel seeds - use 1 bushy bulb fennel top with 1 bunch fresh dillweed*
Coarse (kosher) salt
2 tablespoons currants
1 piece sun-dried tomato, cut into small bits, optional
2 pinches pulverized saffron in 1/4-cup hot water
6 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
7 anchovy fillets, drained, rinsed and cut up
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1/4 teaspoon ground fennel seed**
2 cans (4 ounces each) boneless sardines packed in olive oil, preferably Italian, French or Portuguese (or 12 fresh sardines)***
Freshly ground pepper
1/2 pound hollow spaghetti, maccheroncini, bucatini or perciatelli, uncooked

Wash the bulb fennel tops, and cut off hard parts of the stalks and the tougher sprigs. Save bulb for some other dish. Cook fennel tops and dill in three quarts salted water until tender, about 15 minutes. Scoop out fennel and dill, and set aside. Reserve fennel cooking water for cooking the pasta and moistening the sauce as it cooks.

Soak currants (and tomato, if used) in saffron-tinted hot water for 10 minutes.

In a wide, heavy skillet, gently cook the onions in the olive oil until they are soft and golden. Add the anchovies and crush them with the back of a fork. Cook one minute. Remove from heat.

Roughly chop the fennel and dill (this can be done using the metal blade of a food processor and the on/ off button).

Place the chopped fennel and dill, currants, tomato if used, soaking liquid, ground fennel seed, pine nuts and one-half cup of the reserved fennel cooking water in the skillet. Simmer, stirring, for two minutes to blend flavors. Fold in the sardines, crushing a few of them into the sauce. If sauce seems too dry, add a few tablespoons of the fennel water. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper and set aside. Makes about two cups and can be prepared to this point in advance.

Twenty minutes before serving, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Cook the pasta in the reserved water and boil until barely tender. Drain pasta; toss with half the sauce and arrange in a baking-serving dish. Spread the remaining sauce on top.

Cover with foil and set in the oven for five minutes.

Serve very hot. Pass a cruet of olive oil. Pasta con le Sarde is also delicious lukewarm or cold.

*Five and one-half ounces, or three large stalks, of wild fennel can be found in Italian markets around March 19, the day of the Sicilian feast of St. Joseph. Wash, drain and trim away all hard stalks and any tough sprigs. Cooking time is longer than for dill and bulb fennel tops; add about 10 minutes. Reserve fennel cooking water for cooking the pasta and moistening the sauce as directed above. When using California wild fennel, add a pinch of sugar to the sauce.

**To prepare ground fennel seed, simply grind some fennel seeds in a spice mill. This addition will add depth of taste to the mixture of dill and fresh fennel tops, and thus more closely simulate the flavor of wild fennel.

***If you find fresh sardines, cut off the heads and tails from each of the sardines. Slit each belly lengthwise; turn over, press down on backbone to loosen, then turn back and pull out bones. With a paper towel, wipe away the guts. Sprinkle the flesh with salt and pepper. Cook them with the anchovies, crushing a few sardines with the back of a fork. After adding the saffron-tinted water, simmer the sardines until fully cooked. I sprinkle a little olive oil over the pasta just before eating because it seems to bring up the flavor.

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PASTA WITH SARDINES (PASTA CON LE SARDE)
Source: Inmamakitchen
Makes 6 servings

"This is a classic Sicilian dish from Palermo,created when the Saracens ruled Sicily. Sicilians would use the fennel that grows wild in the lava-rich soil which is a more intense taste than the cultivated."

2 pounds fresh sardines
1 1/2 pound bulb fennel, thickly sliced
1/2 cup olive oil
2 onions, finely sliced
4 anchovy filets
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 package saffron threads (about 8-10 threads)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pound pasta, uncooked
1 cup breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Remove heads and tails from half the sardines. Cut in 1 inch pieces. Leave second half intact.

Wash and trim fennel. Put into pan with about 8 cups cold, salted water. Bring to a boil and cook until tender, about 5-8 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon, drain in colander, then gently squeeze out water. Chop roughly. Reserve cooking water.

Heat 1/4 cup oil in frying pan. Saute onions over medium heat until golden. Add chopped sardines and anchovies. As they cook, crush sardines with back of spoon to make a thick paste. Add pine nuts, raisins, saffron, salt and pepper.

In a separate pan, heat remaining oil and lightly saute the fennel, removing to a separate bowl. Saute the remaining whole sardines. Cook until tender, about 10 minutes, turning once gently, careful not to to break sardines.

Using fennel water, boil pasta until al dente, (about 10-12 minutes). Drain. Put in bowl and dress with half the sardine sauce.

Put a layer of dressed pasta in an oven-proof casserole. On top of that, put a layer of fennel, then a a layer of whole sardines with additional sauce. Continue until ingredients are used up, ending with a layer of bucatini. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over top.

Cover and bake for 15-20 minutes. Pasta may be served hot or cold.