Name: Pasta alla Palombara (Pasta with Tuna, Anchovies, Pine Nuts, and Currants)
Yield: Serves 6 as a first course, 4 as a main course
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons currants; 2 tablespoons pine nuts; Salt; Freshly ground black pepper; 1 pound thin frilly-edged dried pasta, such as fettucelle, lasagnette ricce, pappardelle, or tagliatelle; 3 tablespoons finely minced flat-leaf parsley; 1 small onion, finely chopped; 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus 1 to 2 tablespoons (optional); 6 anchovy fillets under oil, drained and mashed; or 3 whole anchovies under salt, well rinsed, filleted, and mashed; 1 garlic clove, crushed in 1 piece; 1 cup peeled, seeded, and chopped fresh tomatoes, or 1 cup canned Italian plum tomatoes, drained and pressed through a food mill or sieve to remove the seeds; 12 ounces (2 cans) albacore tuna packed in olive oil, drained; ½ cup toasted bread crumbs; 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt; 4 quarts water

Preparation info

Serves
6
as a first course

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

In Nonna's Kitchen

By Carol Field

Published 1997

About

This recipe comes from Antonina Lo Nardo, a grandmother from Palermo whom I met when she was visiting her daughter and son-in-law in the little town of Valledolmo deep in the center of Sicily. Her family were palombari, deep-sea divers, who went to sea for 9 months every year. They caught and preserved tuna and when they returned, their preserved tuna became the basis of many of their favorite dishes. They serve this dish with a frilly pasta they call margherita, whi