Spaghetti Con Le Sarde Recipes

CHEF JOHN'S PASTA CON LE SARDE

Steps:

• Cook and stir bread crumbs with 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over medium heat until bread crumbs are crispy and toasted, 2 to 5 minutes. Transfer breadcrumbs to a bowl to cool.
• Grind saffron threads with a mortar and pestle; pour white wine into mortar and stir to combine.
• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook bucatini in boiling water, stirring occasionally until almost cooked through but firm to the bite, 10 to 11 minutes. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water.
• Heat remaining olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir onion and fennel with a pinch of salt in hot oil until onion is soft, about 10 minutes.
• Stir raisins, garlic, and anchovy fillet into onion mixture; cook and stir until heated through, about 1 minute.
• Pour saffron-wine into skillet; cook until wine is almost evaporated, about 2 minutes. Pour 1 ladleful reserved pasta water into skillet and bring to a simmer. Stir pine nuts and red pepper flakes into sauce; simmer until flavors combine and sauce is reduced, about 5 minutes.
• Stir bucatini and sardines into wine mixture; increase heat to high, and cook, stirring frequently and adding more reserved pasta water as necessary, until sauce and pasta are heated through, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Ladle into bowls and top with fennel fronds and toasted bread crumbs.

PASTA CON LE SARDE

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Combine the currants, red-pepper flakes and wine in a bowl; set aside. In a small sauté pan, melt the butter. Add the bread crumbs and cook, stirring, until golden brown. Transfer to a bowl, stir in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and set aside.
• In a heavy skillet, heat 1/2 cup olive oil over medium-low heat. When hot, add the onion, garlic, fennel bulb and fennel seeds. Season with salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the fennel is tender, about 25 minutes.
• Add the wine mixture and the sardines, breaking them into pieces with a fork. Bring to a boil and gently simmer for 10 minutes.
• Add enough salt to the boiling water so that it tastes salty. Boil the bucatini until al dente, 6 to 8 minutes; strain. Return the pasta to the pasta pot and set over low heat. Fold in the fennel-sardine mixture. Toss in the remaining 4 tablespoons olive oil. Add 3/4 of the fennel fronds, the pine nuts, the capers and a quarter of the bread crumbs. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Divide pasta among plates and sprinkle the remaining bread crumbs and fennel fronds over each. Serve immediately.

PASTA CON SARDE (PASTA WITH SARDINES)

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti, and cook until al dente, or 8 to 10 minutes. Drain, and rinse under cold water. Toss with 1/4 cup olive oil, cover and keep warm.
• Place another 1/4 cup olive oil in a skillet, and heat over medium heat. Stir in the garlic, and cook just until golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the sardines, and cook 1 minute more. Stir in the bread crumbs and 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese. If necessary to give the mixture a crumbly texture, stir in the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil. Stir in the parsley and pepper, and remove from the heat. If desired, serve with additional Parmesan cheese.

PASTA CON LE SARDE (SICILIAN PASTA WITH SARDINES) RECIPE

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Mince half the fennel fronds and reserve the other half whole.
• Add pine nuts and sardines and cook, stirring, until sardines are just barely cooked through, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Meanwhile, cook the pasta until al dente, then drain, reserving at least 1 cup pasta cooking water.
• Transfer pasta to skillet along with 1/4 cup pasta cooking water. Return skillet to medium-high heat and cook, stirring and tossing, until pasta is well coated in sauce and any excess liquid has cooked off. Drizzle on some fresh olive oil (don't be shy) along with the minced fennel fronds, and toss well. Season with salt. Add a very small handful of bread crumbs and toss once more.
• If at any point the pasta becomes too dry, add additional pasta cooking water in 1/4-cup increments, and toss to loosen and moisten (you can also drizzle on more olive oil as desired). The noodles should be slick and glossy with a sheen of sauce, but not sitting in a watery puddle.

PASTA CON LE SARDE

Steps:

• Soak raisins in a bowl of lukewarm water for 20 minutes. In a large pot of boiling, salted water blanch fennel tops, 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon, pat dry and chop. Return water to boiling and add pasta. Meanwhile, in a saucepan heat oil over medium heat, add sardines and saute 2 to 3 minutes, mashing with a fork. Season with salt and pepper. Add vinegar and let it evaporate, about 2 minutes. Drain raisins, pat dry and add along with fennel and pine nuts. Cook sauce 1 minute more. When pasta is tender, drain and transfer to a large warmed serving dish. Pour sauce over and toss very well. Serve immediately.;

PASTA CON LE SARDE

Steps:

• Coarsely chop the stalks of wild fennel with their flowers or the fronds and stalks of cultivated fennel. Place in a large saucepan, add 5 quarts of cold water, 1 tablespoon of the coarse sea salt, and bring to a simmer, poaching the fennel until the stalks are tender. Drain the fennel, reserving its cooking liquors and press it against the side of the pot to express all its liquid. Finely mince the poached fennel and set it aside.
• In a small sauté pan over a medium flame, pan-roast the pine nuts until quite brown and set aside. In a small sauté pan, pan-roast the saffron threads for 1 minute over a low flame. Add the 2 tablespoons of white wine, dissolving the threads in it and then mixing the saffroned wine with the remaining wine and the tomato puree. Rinse the anchovies of their salt, remove their heads and bones, and lightly dry them on absorbent paper towels, finally crushing them gently with a fork.
• In a large sauté pan, heat the olive oil and lightly sauté the onion. Add the minced fennel and sauté for 1 minute. Add the crushed anchovies and the sardine fillets, rolling the fish about in the oil with the aromatics for 1/2 minute before adding the plumped raisins and their juices, 1/2 cup of the pine nuts, and the saffron/tomato mixture. Stir, amalgamating the elements and reducing the liquids so that a thick sauce results.
• Turn the sauce out into a bowl, permitting it to cool and its perfumes and flavors to rest and intensify. Never refrigerate the sauce.
• Just before serving, cook the pasta to al dente in the reserved fennel-poaching water, adding 1 additional tablespoon of coarse sea salt. Drain the pasta, leaving it somewhat wet, and dress the hot pasta with the sauce, carefully coating each strand.
• Serve the pasta in shallow bowls, strewing it with the remaining pine nuts and a dusting of bread crumbs. In high summer, we might sip iced moscato with the pasta, but in cooler weather, a rough, tannic red seems right.