Pasta with Sardines and Wild Fennel

Ingredients

• 320 g Bucatini
• 500 g Sardines
• 300 g Wild fennel
• 4 fillets Anchovy fillets
• 1 medium Onion
• 40 g Raisins
• 40 g Pine nuts
• 1 pinch Saffron
• 60 g Breadcrumbs
• 6 tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 to taste Salt
• 1 to taste Black pepper

Steps

1. Soak the raisins in warm water for 15 minutes, then drain and squeeze gently.
2. Dissolve the saffron in a few tablespoons of warm water and set aside.
3. Trim and wash the wild fennel.
4. Boil it in a large pot of salted water for 10 minutes until tender, then lift it out, reserving the green cooking water for the pasta.
5. Squeeze the fennel dry and chop coarsely.
6. Clean the sardines: remove heads, guts and central bone to open them into butterflied fillets.
7. Rinse and pat dry.
8. Toast the breadcrumbs in a dry pan with a drizzle of olive oil over medium heat, stirring constantly until golden and crisp.
9. Set the mollica aside.
10. In a wide pan, gently fry the thinly sliced onion in olive oil until soft.
11. Add the anchovy fillets and let them melt completely into the oil.
12. Add the chopped fennel, raisins, pine nuts and the dissolved saffron.
13. Stir and cook for 5 minutes, loosening with a ladle of the reserved fennel water.
14. Lay most of the sardines in the pan (keep a few aside), season with salt and pepper, and cook gently for 8–10 minutes until they break down into the sauce.
15. Fry the reserved sardines separately to keep whole for garnish.
16. Cook the bucatini in the reserved fennel water until very al dente.
17. Drain and toss in the pan with the sauce for 1–2 minutes, adding a little cooking water if needed.
18. Serve topped with the whole fried sardines and a generous shower of toasted breadcrumbs.
19. Traditionally left to rest a few minutes before eating.

Tips

• The toasted breadcrumbs (mollica atturrata) replace cheese — never use parmesan on this dish. If fresh wild fennel is unavailable, fennel fronds plus a pinch of fennel seed approximate the flavor, but the cooking water is essential for the pasta. Bucatini is the classic shape; the dish tastes even better the next day.