I bear in mind one night time a well-known American artwork critic got here into Locanda to eat. This man regarded on the menu after which stated, “, I’ve simply come again from Sicily and I liked the pasta they made with the sarde.” I went again into the kitchen and stated to Rino, my head chef, who’s from Sciacca, on the south coast of Sicily, “We now have to prepare dinner this pasta for him.” We had some good sardines, lovely sultanas, and I had simply come again from Sicily myself, so I had introduced a few of the wild fennel that grows so freely.
We cooked the pasta for him, and each single yr since he has despatched me a card at Christmas, saying, “That pasta with the sarde was one of the best I ever had.”
This can be a dish that sums up Sicily for me: the Arab mixture of sultanas, nuts and saffron (I feel it wants heaps) reveals the historical past of the island, but the substances themselves have been indigenous there since classical occasions. In Palermo, they make the dish in the identical method however pile the pasta into an ovenproof dish, with the breadcrumbs on high, and bake it within the oven for 10 to fifteen minutes at round 150C fan/gasoline mark 3.
There’s one other model of the dish that’s typical of the opposite side of Sicilian cooking, which is all about making do with what you could have … it is called pasta con le sarde a mare, which suggests “pasta with sardines which might be within the sea” – in different phrases, that they had the pine nuts, sultanas, breadcrumbs and all the opposite substances to make the dish, however they didn’t have any sardines, so that they made it anyway, simply with out the fish!
When you can’t discover any wild fennel, use a teaspoon of fennel seeds as a substitute. Soak them, entire, in just a bit water – solely sufficient to cowl them – for a few hours, and add them as a substitute of the wild fennel.
Serves 4
salted anchovies 3, or 6 anchovy fillets in oil
breadcrumbs 100g
further virgin olive oil 120ml
onion 1 medium, chopped
white wine 50ml
’strattu (Sicilian tomato paste) 2 tbsp or 1½ tbsp tomato puree
contemporary sardine fillets 8
sultanas 30g
pine nuts 30g
saffron a superb pinch (about 20 threads)
wild fennel 3 sprigs, finely chopped, or 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds, soaked in just a little water
sea salt and freshly floor black pepper
pasta 200g, equivalent to bucatini
If utilizing salted anchovies, rinse and dry them. Run your thumb gently alongside the spine to launch it, and you need to be capable of pull it out simply. If utilizing anchovies in oil, drain them.
Toast the breadcrumbs in a dry pan over a medium warmth, till they’re fairly a darkish golden brown. Take care to not burn them.
Warmth half the additional virgin olive oil in a pan and add the onion. Sauté till softened however not colored, then add the anchovy fillets, stirring them till they “soften”. Add the wine and bubble as much as let it evaporate, then add the ’strattu or puree and produce again to the boil, including simply sufficient water to present a sauce consistency. Add the sardine fillets, sultanas, pine nuts, saffron and chopped fennel or soaked seeds. Style and season if crucial, stir gently, and prepare dinner for 10 minutes.
Deliver a pan of water to the boil, add salt, then put within the pasta and prepare dinner for a couple of minute lower than the time given on the packet, in order that it’s al dente. Drain, reserving a few of the cooking water.
Toss the pasta with the sardine sauce and the remainder of the olive oil, including just a little of the pasta cooking water if essential to loosen the sauce, and sprinkle with the toasted breadcrumbs.
From Made in Sicily by Giorgio Locatelli (HarperCollins, £30)
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