Pasta Con Le Sarde (sardines) can only be a Sicilian dish.
Sardines are plentiful, so is the wild fennel (it is seasonal), and most Sicilians eat pasta in some form, every day.
The flavours and ingredients of pine nuts, saffron and currants are said to have been introduced by the Arabs.
Breadcrumbs toasted in a fry pan with a little bit of olive oil are popular in Sicily as a topping or dressing – called muddica/ mollica/pan grattato, it is sprinkled on pasta instead of grated cheese, and some vegetable dishes like Parmigiana di Melanzane (eggplants), Caponata, fried peppers (Peperonata), and Sfincione (a type of regional pizza) .
And I make Pasta Con Le Sarde when I know I can impress friends, those who appreciate being impressed.
Accept that not everyone likes sardines or fancy the idea of wild fennel. The photo below shows how some bunches of wild fennel are sold in Sicilian markets.
Over the years I don’t just toast the breadcrumbs in the frypan (made bread that’s several days old); I also add a little cinnamon, a tiny bit of sugar and grated lemon peel. The lemon flavour really makes this pasta topping even more special. Sometimes I also add pine nuts to the pan.
Bucatini is the pasta I prefer – it’s slightly larger than spaghetti, long and hollow, like a tube.
But last time I made Pasta Con Le Sarde, I did use spaghetti. You can see how many pine nuts I sprinkled on top before folding them into the pasta. In a traditional dish there would be fewer.
Most of the time my Pasta Con Le Sarde looks like pretty ordinary, but still tastes magnificent. Sometimes I also add chopped, roasted almonds. Looking at this photo below can see that not all the almonds were chopped!
It is sometimes difficult to find wild fennel that is healthy looking or in season, so sometimes I do add a fresh fennel bulb.
Below the photo shows fennel and onion sauté-ing (if there is such a word!)
This is followed by the addition of saffron, wild fennel and currants.
If I can get sufficient wild fennel I use it in the boiling water to flavour the pasta. The stalks from fresh fennel also work. Simply cook the stalks or wild fennel in the water and remove them before adding the pasta to cook.
Although Sardines are easy to clean, sardines are also sold as fillets.
I have written about Pasta Con Le Sarde before.
PASTA CON LE SARDE, Iconic Sicilian made easy
PASTA CON LE SARDE, an iconic Sicilian recipe from Palermo. Cooked at Slow Food Festival Melbourne
PASTA CON SARDE; the baked version, Palermo, Sicily
PASTA WITH BREADCRUMBS, anchovies and fennel (Pasta cca muddica)
From my book, Sicilian Seafood Cooking.