Pasta With Sardines and Fennel Recipe (2024)

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.

It cannot be totally derivative and almost invented at the same time. The two terms are mutually exclusive.

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.

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!

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.

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 .

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.

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.

Thanks to all for catching this error. The fennel fronds should added to the skillet in step 4. We've fixed the recipe.

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.

A staple in this Sicilian house every March for San Guiseppe. Love this the next day, cold from the fridge. Seriously.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

Think I’d like uncooked fronds as garnish.

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.

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?

For this recipe, our family always uses long fusilli - one of our favorite pastas.

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.

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!

I used Matiz canned sardines. It was delicious. Used the sardine oil in sautéing the vegetables. Otherwise just followed the recipe.

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.

This recipe is truly delicious, however “derivative”, “almost invented”, or whatever other rant comes its way. Make lots, it’s hard to stop eating!

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.

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!

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.

Just made this- one week after St. Joseph’s Day but my Sicilian- American husband was ok with waiting. Made the recipe as written and it was delicious! I absolutely love fennel, so the prominent flavor of fennel worked for me. If I’m being honest, I would have/should have prepped the ingredients- my mise en place was lacking. At any rate, it got done, served with a nice wine and a great Lenten Friday meal was had by all.