Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [92]
Note Vegetable markets usually sell finocchio with the tops trimmed away, so you must arrange in advance for them to be kept for you.
Recommended pasta We should do as Palermo does, and choose the thick, hollow spaghetti that in Sicily is called u pirciatu. It is the same shape as the one identified on boxes as bucatini or perciatelli.
1. If using fresh sardines: Snap off the head of the fish, pulling away with it most of the intestines.
Remove the center back fin together with the little bones that are attached to it by pulling it off starting at the tail end.
Hold the sardine with one hand, slip the thumbnail of the other hand into the belly cavity, and run it against the spine all the way to the tail. This will open up the sardine completely flat, exposing the spine.
Slip the nails of your thumb and forefinger under the spine, and work it loose. Lift the spine, freeing it from the flesh, but do not snap it off. Pull the spine toward the tail, and pull it sharply away from the body of the fish, taking the tail with it.
Wash the boned, butterflied sardine under cold running water, rinsing away any remaining portion of the guts or any loose bones.
When all the sardines are done, lay them flat on a large cutting board, propping up one end of the board to let the fish drain.
If using canned sardines: Begin the recipe with the next step.
2. Wash the finocchio tops or the wild fennel in cold water. Bring 4 to 5 quarts of water to a boil, add salt, and as the water resumes boiling put in the greens. Cook for 10 minutes with a cover set on askew. Off heat, retrieve the cooked fennel greens using a colander spoon, but do not pour out the water in the pot. Save it for cooking the pasta later.
3. When cool enough to handle, squeeze the greens gently in your hand to force moisture out, then chop them.
4. Soak the raisins in several changes of cold water for no less than 15 minutes, then drain them and chop them.
5. Put water in a saucepan and bring it to a lively simmer.
6. Choose a sauté pan that can subsequently accommodate all the ingredients except the pasta. Put in the olive oil and chopped onion, and turn on the heat to medium. Cook the onion, stirring, until it becomes translucent. Place the sauté pan over the pot with simmering water, add the anchovies, and stir them constantly with a wooden spoon, mashing them from time to time with the back of the spoon.
7. When the anchovies are nearly dissolved to a paste, return the pan to the burner over medium heat, add the greens, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring from time to time.
8. If using fresh sardines: Clear some space in the pan by pushing its contents to one side with the wooden spoon. Into the cleared area, put as many sardines as will fit flat without overlapping. Cook them briefly on one side, then on the other, less than a minute for each side. Push the cooked sardines to one side of the pan, clearing room to cook more sardines, continuing in this fashion until all the sardines have been done.
If using canned sardines: Proceed directly to the next step.
9. Add the pignoli, the chopped raisins, the tomato paste and saffron solution, salt, and a few grindings of black pepper, and turn over all ingredients to season them evenly. Continue to cook at medium heat, letting all the liquid in the pan bubble away. If using canned sardines, add them at this point, turning them over in the sauce two or three times, then remove from heat.
10. Bring the water in which you cooked the fennel greens to a boil, add a little salt, and in it cook the pasta.
11. Toss the sardine sauce with the cooked drained pasta. Add the bread crumbs and toss again. Allow the pasta to settle several minutes before serving.
Ahead-of-time note The sauce can be prepared several hours in advance up to this point, but if you are using canned sardines, put them in only when reheating the sauce to toss it with the pasta.
Baked Pasta con le Sarde with Toasted Almonds
1. Prepare the sardine sauce, following the instructions in the