Among the many traditional Italian recipes based on wild fennel, one of the best known is certainly the pasta with sardines or 'pasta chi sardi'! Typical of Palermo and widespread throughout the Sicily, this dish has become an icon of Mediterranean cuisine.

The fresh sardines are of fundamental importance for the success of this recipe, but many other ingredients are also needed, come wild fennel, pine nuts and raisins. Wild fennel allows you to give freshness to the dish and gives an unmistakable scent. The toasted pine nuts enhance the other flavors with their strength and give crunchiness, while raisins are the sweet element, slightly acidic, that balances everything in the best possible way, creating a truly incredible harmony.

Here's how to prepare an excellent pasta with sardines:

INGREDIENTS for 4 people:

1 bunch of wild fennel

300 g of fresh sardines

4 anchovies

1 onion

30 g of raisins

25 g of pine nuts

1 saffron sachet

Extra virgin olive oil to taste.

Sale q.b.

Pepe q.b.

Pasta 400 gr circa

As for the pasta, you can choose the penne with wild fennel Minardo or we recommend some bucatini or spaghetti 5.

PROCEDURE:

First we prepare the sardines, it will be necessary to peel them very carefully, eliminate the head and entrails, remove the central bone and open them completely, book. Once this is done, rinse them under fresh running water and dab them with a little absorbent paper so as to eliminate any excess water.

At this point we take the wild fennel, it will need to be cleaned and boiled in boiling water for about ten minutes. We remove the wild fennel and put it aside, but remember not to throw away its cooking water. Once it has cooled a little, we will chop it finely.

We soak the raisins in water.

We rinse the anchovies under running tap water.

Now take a pan and add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, onion and anchovies, previously chopped, and let it fry.

Pour the saffron sachet into a glass of water and add everything to the pan.

Add the pine nuts and the previously drained and squeezed raisins. We cook for a minute.

We add sardines and chopped fennel.

We season with salt and pepper, without exaggerating since the sardines already have an intense flavor. We let it cook for a couple of minutes.

Let's cook the pasta, which we will drain al dente to complete cooking in the pan, together with the seasoning.

We remind you not to serve immediately. Leave the pasta in the pan, with the fire off, for a few minutes. We can assure you that in this way the flavors will be felt with greater intensity. Seeing is believing!

For some curiosities about the origins of this dish, refer to the article by jaqui and his blog The pasta project, which we thank pis la photo, for experimenting with this recipe with our penne with fennel and for having told us numerous in his article information on this plate.

💚https://www.the-pasta-project.com/sicilian-pasta-with-sardines-and-wild-fennel/ 💚