By: Angelo Biondo
With the Lenten season soon to start, we are always looking for tasty recipes that will satisfy our appetites during this most holy fasting 40 days of Lent. Many Christians especially Catholics observe this most holy season and refrain from eating meat dishes during this period on Wednesdays and Fridays. Although the Church only requires us to observe this practice on Ash Wednesday and Friday’s, many Catholics refrain from eating meat on both Wednesday and Friday during lent. With that in mind I offer one of my families favorite recipe’s Pasta con Sarde.
When I was a kid, I remember my grandmother making this recipe from scratch. Sardines were not what I would call a favorite of mine or my siblings, but somehow this dish transformed them into a delectable gourmet delicacy.
Obtaining the ingredients was a simple task back then (the 40’s and 50’s), but modern marketing and the lack of vegetable gardening has made this task more difficult. The sardines are easy enough to get from the fish market, and in a pinch you can use canned sardines (preferably packed in olive oil), but the fennel greens are harder to get. The recipe calls for the greens or tops from the fennel bulbs. Most produce departments cut most of the tops from the fennel bulbs before placing them in the display case. If you plan ahead you might get the produce manager to save 1 or 2 pounds when trimming them.
If you want to try Pasta con Sarde and don’t want to go through the trouble of preparation, you can always buy the canned commercial one. It’s usually available in the ethnic or specialty section (Italian isle) and comes in 6 and 12 oz. cans (approximate). Due to the difficulty of obtaining the fennel tops we use the canned version and beef it up somewhat. I’ll cover both options, but from scratch is best. If you are not familiar with fresh fennel, the bulbs are sold with some greens intact. The consumer cuts the remaining tops from the bulb and then will wash and slice the bulbs lengthwise into sticks (like celery) for serving. Fennel has a mild licorice sweet taste and is also referred to as anise.
Pasta con Sarde (from scratch)
Ingredients:
1 ½ lbs fresh fennel tops (save bulbs to cut up and serve as appetizer)
2 lbs. whole fresh sardines (sardines packed in olive oil)
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves (minced)
2 medium onions, sliced
6 tablespoons pine nuts
3 tablespoons currants or raisins
¼ tsp salt (to taste)
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, (1 cup water if not using tomatoes.)
1 cup all purpose flour (for coating)
1 pound bucatini macaroni, spaghetti of your choice.
Grated parmesan or Romano cheese
Note: Bucatini is the spaghetti with the hole through the center.
Directions:
- Soak currants or raisins until plump
- Dump content of crushed tomatoes or 1 cup of water into a four or Six quart sauce pan and set aside.
- If using fresh sardines, remove the entrails, head, and spine
- Cut sardines into 1 inch sections and set aside
- Add olive oil to a hot skillet and sauté fennel greens until slightly caramelized, remove from skillet and add to sauce pan
- Sauté onion slices, garlic and pine nuts in skillet until onions become translucent in appearance then add to saucepan with fennel greens and crushed tomatoes.
- Add the flour to a large plastic zip-lock bag, add the sardine sections shake well until the pieces are thoroughly coated, sauté until slightly browned and add to saucepan.
- Add remaining ingredients and bring to boil.
- Reduce heat and let simmer for approximately 20 minutes
- Serve over bucatini, or your choice of pasta sprinkling with grated cheese.
Optional Easy Method:
The easy way is to use the canned version usually sold in the ethnic or specialty section of your (International) Super Market. The commercial version. The brand we use is an import product
of Italy. The commercial brands are kind of skimpy on the pine nuts and currants etc. So plan on beefing it up a little if you choose to go this way.
Easy Pasta con Sarde Recipe
(serves 4)
Ingredients:
1 can (12 oz) Pasta con Sarde
1 onion (medium, sliced)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
2 tbsp Pine nuts
1 tbsp currants (soaked and drained)
1 can tomato sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pound bucatini macaroni, or spaghetti of your choice.
Directions:
- Sauté onions and garlic in a large skillet over medium heat
- Add all other ingredients and bring to a boil
- Let simmer on low heat while cooking macaroni
- Serve over bucatini, or spaghetti of choice, sprinkle with grated cheese.
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