Name: Pasta con le Sarde al Forno
Yield: Serves 4 Generously
Cuisine: Italy
Ingredients: 8 ounces hollow spaghetti—bucatini, penne rigate, maccheroncini, or perciatelli; 8 ounces young wild fennel fronds with tender stalks or 1 small sliced bulb fennel plus 1 teaspoon fennel seeds; ⅓ cup fresh bread crumbs; 2 cans (4 ounces each) top-quality sardines (see Note), drained, bones removed; ¾ cup finely chopped onion; 2 tablespoons dried currants; ¼ cup plus 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; 2 tablespoons pine nuts; ⅛ teaspoon saffron threads; Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper; 5 flat anchovy fillets, rinsed and chopped; ¼ cup tomato paste, canned or homemade

Preparation info

Serves
4
Generously

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking

By Paula Wolfert

Published 2009

About

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