Pasta With Sardines and Fennel
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:6 servings
- 1cup coarse dry bread crumbs
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Pinch of sugar
- 2ounces fresh bushy fennel fronds, wild or cultivated, about 1 large handful
- ½cup golden raisins
- ½cup currants
- ½cup white wine
- ½teaspoon crumbled saffron
- 1large onion, diced (about 2 cups)
- 2small fennel bulbs, diced
- 4anchovy fillets, roughly chopped
- ½teaspoon fennel seeds, ground
- ½teaspoon coriander seeds, ground
- 2garlic cloves, minced
- ½teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 6very fresh sardines (about 1 pound), cleaned and filleted (you will have about 6 ounces fillets; see note), or substitute large best-quality canned sardines, drained
- 1pound bucatini or thick spaghetti
- ¼cup lightly toasted pine nuts
- 2tablespoons chopped parsley
- Lemon wedges, for garnish
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
662 calories; 15 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 6 grams monounsaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 101 grams carbohydrates; 10 grams dietary fiber; 24 grams sugars; 31 grams protein; 850 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
In a small skillet, toast bread crumbs in 2 tablespoons olive oil until golden. Season with salt and pepper and a pinch of sugar. Set aside.
- Step 2
Simmer the fennel fronds in a large pot of salted water until tender, about 10 minutes. Remove and spread out on a platter to cool. Do not discard cooking water. When fronds are cool, chop finely with a large knife (or pulse in a food processor with a little of the cooking water).
- Step 3
Put raisins and currants in a bowl and cover with the white wine and ½ cup hot fennel-cooking water. Add crumbled saffron and let ingredients steep together for 10 minutes.
- Step 4
In a large skillet, stew the onions and diced fennel in 6 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat until softened, about 10 minutes. Season generously with salt and pepper. Add anchovies, ground fennel and coriander seeds, garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for 2 minutes more. Stir in reserved fennel fronds. Add the raisin mixture and its liquid and bring to a simmer.
- Step 5
Season the fresh sardine fillets with salt and pepper and lay them on top of the onion mixture. Put a lid on the pan and turn off the heat for about 5 minutes, so sardines cook through and are just done. Stir to distribute chunks of fish throughout mixture. (If using canned sardines, skip this step and simply stir them in.)
- Step 6
Boil the bucatini in the fennel cooking water (add more water to the pot if necessary). Cook until noodles are on the firm side of al dente, then drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta water. Add pasta to pan with onion-sardine mixture, sprinkle pasta lightly with salt and gently toss together, adding a little pasta water to keep everything well moistened. Taste and correct seasoning; it should be well seasoned.
- Step 7
Transfer to a large platter or wide pasta bowl. Sprinkle with bread crumbs, pine nuts and parsley. Garnish with lemon wedges. Add a drizzle of olive oil, if desired.
Tip
- Ask your fishmonger to fillet the sardines for you. If you need to do it yourself, however, use a small sharp knife to make an incision just behind the head, then run the blade along the spine toward the tail to remove top fillet. Turn sardine over and repeat on the other side. Discard the remaining skeleton. Trim each fillet to remove extraneous fins or hard bits.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Tom H
Can't we leave morality out of our ingredient choices?
Also, most recipes are derivative of something, and inventiveness should be considered a virtue.
Traditions are wonderful, but culinary arts are not stuck in a bubble of time.
Paul O'Dwyer
It cannot be totally derivative and almost invented at the same time. The two terms are mutually exclusive.
Stefano Maria Celesti
Shocking, totally derivative, almost invented. From the house cookbook of my Palermo family branch, recipe dated 10 Feb 1900: dry long pasta, wild fennel fronds, FRESH (of the essence) sardines, anchovies, raisins, pine nuts, roasted almonds, saffron threads, onions. And oil, salt, pepper. Ingredients in different cities may slightly differ. It is immoral to use garlic, hot pepper, sugar, fennel bulbs, bread crumbs, toasted pine nuts, currants, white wine, coriander, parsley and lemon wedges.
Lisa
Phenomenal recipe -- I've made this type of dish before, without the fennel and raisins, but this added a whole new dimension to the dish. I used half the amount of raisins/currents called for, and it was still plenty sweet. I also used less than half the amount of oil (3 tbs instead of 8!) -- still delicious!
Dan Barron
As an old-in-years beginner cook, that was the best meal I have ever made. Such a complex interplay of such wonderful, disparate flavors. Also the best time cooking (had all the prep work done before the guest arrived; finished with company watching and helping).
Paired two wines: a previously opened Sicilian Cataratto blend, which was less perfect than expected, and a Campania Fiano, which was more so.
A world-changing dinner. Thanks.
Lorraine
Great recipe but this is St. Joseph Day spaghetti.Traditional :we make this on March 19th the feast day of St. Joseph . The bread crumbs symbolize the wood shavings of a carpenter as was St. Joseph. A true Sicilian tradition .
Dan Barron
P.S. Used canned sardines. I thought the dish's salty, sweet, and fennel-y cool flavors were beautifully balanced. All were present; none dominated. Pine nuts (and I love pine nuts) were unnecessary.
Michael M
Oh this is good.
One thing I love about this recipe (and so many of NYT's) is that it uses many unfamiliar yet simple techniques. Steeping raisins/currents in wine & broth. Preparing sardines. Or tossing pasta in its own water (okay, not totally unusual, but still). The result: a delicious, complex array of flavours.
Don't try and forgo the saffron. It's a key element to how the layers add up.
You could totally make this with spaghetti but the bucatini is so right.
Es
10 stars. This is what Sicilian cooking tastes like now (I was recently there)! I used fresh sardines and I can't imagine making this with canned. The flavors burst out: the sweet of the raisins, the salt of the anchovies, the mild licorice of the fennel. as someone else remarked, there are so many layers to this dish. Don't be put off by the long list of ingredients. It comes together quickly and the reward is great.
Emily Weinstein, Cooking Editor, The New York Times
Thanks to all for catching this error. The fennel fronds should added to the skillet in step 4. We've fixed the recipe.
Leonardo
You can buy already made and add to pasta once cooked. It is made in Palermo, Italy by Cuoco and comes in a 14 1/2 oz can which contains wild fennel, sardines, black currents and onions. I find in Italian specialty stores.
Toni Ribisi
A staple in this Sicilian house every March for San Guiseppe. Love this the next day, cold from the fridge. Seriously.
Perignon
I made this without the sardines, but with double the anchovies. I also garnished it with freshly chopped chives & a sprinkle of grated Romano. It was magnificent.
Figaro
Absolutely heavenly! I used all the ingredients, halved everything since we are only two and went light on the pasta. Added the wine, some fennel water and the anchovies to the minced fennel fronds. It created a lovely green veil over the onions and fennel. I used wild caught, lightly smoked canned sardines. Fresh? Not around here, ever. The bucatini finished in the pan with added pasta water; crumbs and pine nuts went on last. Thank you so much, David. Your recipes are masterpieces!
Nancy A
Pasta con Sarde- eaten every Christmas Eve for the last 60 year...before that my Nana and Great Aunt Lena cooked it at least since coming to America in 1913. Before that Great grandma cooked it in Sicily. This version is extremely close to what I follow now- an acquired taste for some. Thanks for putting it on paper for me.
JGMC
Because my pantry staples were low, I made this without pine nuts, saffron, and breadcrumbs. I used anchovy paste and tinned sardines. It was delicious! I can’t wait to make it as written.
Mariko
I made this fantastic Pasta using almost all the ingredients except I did not use the parsley or lemon. I used the fennel fronds with the bread crumbs and pine nuts as the topping and the large Ortiz brand sardines. It was so outstanding, and I've made it many times before with other recipes but this one was way over the top! Thinking that the use of fennel in so many ways made it so.
Lilmo
I was disappointed; it sounded delicious and I served it as part of a Christmas degustation with friends. But it was far too sweet for my liking. ‘Pasta that tastes like weird Christmas mince pies’ reckons my husband. I think more anchovies and some lemon zest would have helped - and dialling back the fruit. Oh well.
gail
Think I’d like uncooked fronds as garnish.
Gregory Bologna
Pasta con le sarde is my #1 favorite on Christmas Eve. I am going to try this recipe. Thank you. I am American-Sicilian and have enjoyed my mother’s prepared version using the CUOCO brand for 30 years. It’s the only way I know how to make it. Homemade bucatini pasta, fresh grated Ricotta salata cheese, a lot of fried garlic cloves and good olive oil.
condiment queen
Spouse loved it. I felt it was fine. This recipe should account for the fact that fresh sardines are scarcely available. What are good quality canned sardines anyway?
Scott
For this recipe, our family always uses long fusilli - one of our favorite pastas.
Wes
I know there are plenty of positive reviews for this dish but I made it just as written with good canned sardines and it was really not good. Did not finish our plates and tossed the rest.
Adri C
We love this recipe and really appreciate all the ingredients that go into it. The sauce has flavors that layer so well together. I recommend cooking the pasta al dente so that when you reheat the leftovers (which are often even better than the day of) the pasta won't overcook. I also think it advisable to make more than you want for one sitting, as it will be difficult to resist eating only one helping. Mangia!
LC
I used Matiz canned sardines. It was delicious. Used the sardine oil in sautéing the vegetables. Otherwise just followed the recipe.
CMCinORE
After a trip to Portugal and back home with several cans of tinned sardines, thought I'd try this recipe, given the rave reviews. Not sure if I did something wrong, but no one in my household cared for this recipe. The flavors did not meld well - too much sweetness with the raisins and currants, very salty and fishy. Will not be repeating this one.
Adri C
Maybe you could tweak the recipe and just add less raisins and currants? I made the dish without currants and with a 1/4 cup of raisins. When I measured the recommended amount of raisins they seamed way too much compared to the rest of the sauce. As regards to the fishiness and saltiness, are portuguese sardines heavily salted? Maybe if you tried less salty sardines and reducing the salt the dish would be to your liking?
todd sf
This recipe is truly delicious, however “derivative”, “almost invented”, or whatever other rant comes its way. Make lots, it’s hard to stop eating!
Stephanie
I made a few errors on this recipe. First, I used black raisins instead of golden (could not find them). Second, I sauteed the fennel fronds, not the fennel until the end so had to end up cooking/simmering much longer than the recipe called for. Used canned sardines, and fresh anchovies, whatever I could find. Let me tell you it turned out near perfect. One of the best dishes I've ever made. I think the bucatini is a must.
jcchi
If this is what Sicilian food tastes like in general, I’m going to move Sicily to the top of my travel list! So much flavor and texture! I had to make some changes to the recipe: subbed miso for the anchovies, added roasted mushrooms and didn’t have any onions, but otherwise followed to a t and the result was fantastic!
Shirley Thompson
This recipe is the bomb. Made as directed, but seasoned the bread crumbs with Red Boat anchovy salt to take it to the next level. So many happy eaters around the table tonight. Superb.
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