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Mediterranean recipe

Palermitan Pasta con le Sarde

Bucatini mingle with fresh sardines, wild fennel, raisins, pine nuts and saffron in a sweet-savory Sicilian sauce, then finish with toasted breadcrumbs.

Palermo, Sicily, Italy

Prep
30 min
Cook
35 min
Total
1 hr 5 min
Servings
4
Sicilian bucatini with sardines, wild fennel, raisins, pine nuts and toasted breadcrumbs
Real finished-dish photographPhotograph by Sebastian FischerSource page · Original file · CC BY-SA 3.0Cropped, resized, and compressed by Recipe Nest Vault.

01

Ingredients

  • 400 g

    bucatini or thick spaghetti

  • 500 g

    fresh sardines, cleaned and butterflied

  • 350 g

    wild fennel fronds and tender stems, chopped

  • 1

    yellow onion, finely chopped

  • 60 g

    raisins, soaked briefly

  • 50 g

    pine nuts

  • 2 g

    saffron threads

  • 100 ml

    extra-virgin olive oil, divided

  • 80 g

    fine dry breadcrumbs

  • 8 g

    fine salt and black pepper

  • 1

    lemon, cut into wedges

02

Method

  1. 01

    Blanch the wild fennel

    Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add fennel and cook until tender; lift it out with a slotted spoon and reserve the fragrant cooking water for pasta.

    Palermitan Pasta con le Sarde, step 1: Blanch the wild fennel.
    Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph
  2. 02

    Toast breadcrumbs and pine nuts

    Toast breadcrumbs in a dry skillet until golden, stirring constantly. Transfer to a bowl, then toast pine nuts separately until lightly browned.

    Palermitan Pasta con le Sarde, step 2: Toast breadcrumbs and pine nuts.
    Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph
  3. 03

    Build the fennel and raisin sauce

    Heat part of the olive oil in a wide pan. Soften onion, add chopped fennel, raisins, pine nuts and saffron, then moisten with a little fennel water.

    Palermitan Pasta con le Sarde, step 3: Build the fennel and raisin sauce.
    Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph
  4. 04

    Cook the sardines gently

    Lay sardines in the fennel mixture and cook gently until just opaque, turning once if the fillets are thick. Break only a few into the sauce and keep some pieces whole.

    Palermitan Pasta con le Sarde, step 4: Cook the sardines gently.
    Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph
  5. 05

    Boil pasta in fennel water

    Bring the reserved fennel water back to a boil, add pasta and cook until al dente. Reserve some cooking water, then drain.

    Palermitan Pasta con le Sarde, step 5: Boil pasta in fennel water.
    Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph
  6. 06

    Toss pasta with the sauce

    Add drained pasta to the fennel sauce with a splash of reserved water. Toss over low heat until coated, then fold in sardines carefully so the fillets stay recognizable.

    Palermitan Pasta con le Sarde, step 6: Toss pasta with the sauce.
    Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph
  7. 07

    Finish with toasted breadcrumbs

    Plate the pasta with a few whole sardine pieces and scatter toasted breadcrumbs and pine nuts over the top. Serve with lemon wedges.

    Palermitan Pasta con le Sarde, step 7: Finish with toasted breadcrumbs.
    Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph

03

Sources and photo credit

This standardized method was independently rewritten after cross-checking the references below. Recipe Nest Vault does not claim that the credited photographer cooked from this exact version.

Recipe references

Pasta con le sarde.jpg — Photograph by Sebastian Fischer; CC BY-SA 3.0.

Step illustrations: Original illustrations created by Recipe Nest Vault with OpenAI image_gen.

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