Pasta con le Sarde al Forno

Pasta with sardines and fennel has been one of my favorite Sicilian pasta recipes ever since I first tasted it in Palermo many years ago. The sauce, which is as green as pesto but a little bit more lumpy, does not always cling well to the pasta. For this reason I like to mix the sauce and pasta together in an attractive glazed baking dish and finish it in the oven. It’s delicious this way—hot, lukewarm, or even cold.

In Sicily the dish is made with fresh sardines and wild fennel, bu