Sicilian Style Sardine Pasta With Breadcrumbs Recipes

Steps:

• In a small skillet, toast bread crumbs in 2 tablespoons olive oil until golden. Season with salt and pepper and a pinch of sugar. Set aside.
• Simmer the fennel fronds in a large pot of salted water until tender, about 10 minutes. Remove and spread out on a platter to cool. Do not discard cooking water. When fronds are cool, chop finely with a large knife (or pulse in a food processor with a little of the cooking water).
• Put raisins and currants in a bowl and cover with the white wine and 1/2 cup hot fennel-cooking water. Add crumbled saffron and let ingredients steep together for 10 minutes.
• In a large skillet, stew the onions and diced fennel in 6 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat until softened, about 10 minutes. Season generously with salt and pepper. Add anchovies, ground fennel and coriander seeds, garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for 2 minutes more. Stir in reserved fennel fronds. Add the raisin mixture and its liquid and bring to a simmer.
• Season the fresh sardine fillets with salt and pepper and lay them on top of the onion mixture. Put a lid on the pan and turn off the heat for about 5 minutes, so sardines cook through and are just done. Stir to distribute chunks of fish throughout mixture. (If using canned sardines, skip this step and simply stir them in.)
• Boil the bucatini in the fennel cooking water (add more water to the pot if necessary). Cook until noodles are on the firm side of al dente, then drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta water. Add pasta to pan with onion-sardine mixture, sprinkle pasta lightly with salt and gently toss together, adding a little pasta water to keep everything well moistened. Taste and correct seasoning; it should be well seasoned.
• Transfer to a large platter or wide pasta bowl. Sprinkle with bread crumbs, pine nuts and parsley. Garnish with lemon wedges. Add a drizzle of olive oil, if desired.

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Put half the oil (2 tablespoons) in a medium skillet over medium heat. When it's hot, add the bread crumbs and cook, stirring frequently, until golden and fragrant, less than 5 minutes, and then remove. Add the remaining oil and the onion to the pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until just tender; drain, reserving some of the cooking liquid. Turn the heat under the onions to medium-high and add the lemon zest, capers and sardines; cook, stirring occasionally, until just heated through, about 2 minutes.
• Add the pasta to the sardine mixture and toss well to combine. Add the parsley, most of the bread crumbs and some reserved water, if necessary, to moisten. Taste and adjust seasoning, garnishing with more parsley and bread crumbs.

Steps:

• Cook spaghetti in a pasta pot of well- salted boiling water until al dente.
• Meanwhile, heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Fry capers until they "bloom" and are just a shade darker, about 2 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. Toast bread crumbs in same skillet, stirring, until golden, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and toss with capers, dill, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.
• Add sardines to skillet with their oil (if using 3 cans sardines, discard oil from 1 can) over medium-high heat, then force garlic through a garlic press into skillet. Sauté until sardines are golden in spots around edges, about 2 minutes.
• Reserve 1 cup pasta-cooking water, then drain pasta. Add pasta to skillet with cooking water and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Toss until pasta is coated and sauce is slightly thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve topped with seasoned crumbs.

Steps:

• Finely chop fennel bulb. Combine saffron, raisins, and wine in a bowl.
• Cook onion, fennel bulb, and seeds in oil with salt to taste in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until fennel is tender, about 15 minutes.
• Add wine mixture and half of sardines, breaking sardines up with a fork, and simmer 1 minute.
• While sauce is cooking, cook pasta in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water until al dente, then drain in a colander.
• Toss hot pasta in a bowl with fennel sauce, remaining sardines, fennel fronds, pine nuts, and salt and pepper to taste. Add bread crumbs and toss again.

Steps:

• In a large skillet preheated over medium heat, add 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, and chopped garlic.
• When the garlic begins to sizzle in oil add bread crumbs.
• Stir bread crumbs until deeply golden in color.
• Add parsley and a liberal amount of salt and pepper, about 1 teaspoon of each.
• Transfer bread crumbs to a dish and reserve.
• Return skillet to heat and 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil.
• Add sardine and red pepper flakes to pan and saute over medium heat 2-3 minutes.
• Add hot, cooked pasta to the skillet and toss with sardines.
• Add bread crumbs to the pot and toss thoroughly to combine and evenly distribute the mixture.
• Taste, to adjust seasonings, and serve.