Pasta con le Sarde

Ingredients

• 400g bucatini
• 300g fresh sardines
• 150g wild fennel fronds
• 6 salted anchovy fillets
• 4 spring onions, finely chopped
• 25g raisins
• 20g pine nuts
• 1 sachet saffron
• 1 dried peperoncino
• 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 100g coarse breadcrumbs
• 1 garlic clove
• Salt

Before you cook

• Soak the raisins in warm water for 15 minutes, then drain them.
• Scale, gut and butterfly the sardines, pulling out the backbones.
• Rinse the fillets in cold water and cut them into 3cm pieces.
• Finely chop the spring onions.

Steps

1. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil.
2. Boil the wild fennel for 8 minutes, until tender.
3. Lift the fennel out with tongs, keeping the green cooking water in the pan.
4. Squeeze the fennel dry and chop it finely.
5. Warm 2 tablespoons of the oil in a small pan with the crushed garlic clove.
6. Add the breadcrumbs and toast them for 4 minutes, until crisp and sandy.
7. Tip the crumbs onto a plate and discard the garlic.
8. Heat the remaining oil in a wide pan and soften the spring onions for 5 minutes.
9. Add the anchovies and the crumbled peperoncino, pressing until the anchovies dissolve.
10. Dissolve the saffron in a ladle of the fennel water and pour it into the pan.
11. Add the raisins, pine nuts and chopped fennel and simmer for 5 minutes.
12. Lay the sardine pieces on top, season lightly and cook for 6 minutes, stirring as little as possible so they stay in pieces.
13. Bring the fennel water back to the boil and cook the bucatini until al dente.
14. Drain the pasta and fold it gently through the sauce for 1 minute.
15. Serve each plate under a thick scattering of the toasted breadcrumbs.