Pasta alle Sarde Siciliana (Sicilian Pasta with Sardines)

Pasta con le Sarde is a centuries-old Sicilian dish of pasta with sardines that has become synonymous with the feast of St. Joseph’s Day. The delicious sauce combines sardines, anchovies, currants, fennel, and pine nuts, perfectly balancing sweet, savory, and briny flavors.  It is traditionally served over a long pasta like spaghetti or bucatini and topped with toasted bread crumbs as part of the meatless meal dedicated to the beloved Saint.  

This is a dish that has been part of my family for generations, just like Pane di Pasqua or Italian Easter Bread.  My Nonna taught my mother how to make it, and my mother, in turn, handed the recipe down to me. I have to admit I didn’t like it much as a child, but boy, I love it now!   

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

Sardines:  Fresh sardines are preferred, but they are not always available and are quite messy to clean.  I have made this recipe with fresh and canned sardines packed in oil.  Both versions are delicious!

If you can find fresh sardines and don’t mind cleaning them, you should absolutely use them.  But there is nothing wrong with taking a shortcut and using a good quality canned product.  So take your pick!

Fresh Fennel:  The traditional recipe is made with wild fennel, which is everywhere in Sicily but hard to come by in other areas.  Wild fennel (Finocchietto) grows tall, feathery, and has no bulb.  It has a more pronounced anise/licorice taste than bulb fennel.  I substitute the fronds and some of the stalks from bulb fennel in this recipe. The stalks have more of an anise flavor, so I add them to keep the taste as authentic as possible.  You will need several fennel bulbs.  Use the stems and fronds and save the bulbs for eating fresh or in a salad.

Anchovies:  The anchovies will be broken down in the sauce, enhancing the salty, briny flavor of the sardines. I also like to add a little of their oil to the sauce.      

Dried Currants: If you want to make this recipe as close to traditional as possible, use currants.  They are fairly easy to find in local grocery stores, but raisins can be substituted if currants aren’t available.  

Saffron: Saffron is a common ingredient in Mediterranean cuisine but is rather expensive in other parts of the world.  It provides a distinct golden color, delicate floral aroma, and subtle earthy-sweet flavor. 

Pine Nuts: The nuts do not need to be toasted before adding them to the sauce, but feel free to toast them if you want.   

White Wine:  A dry white wine like a Sauvignon Blanc works well.  I like the acidity the wine brings to the sauce, but my mother always used water instead, and her sauce is very tasty!  As I said, I love it both ways, so feel free to replace it with water.

How to Make Pasta alle Sarde

The Muddica, Toasted Breadcrumbs

• Heat a little bit of olive oil in a skillet. Add the breadcrumbs to the skillet and cook, stirring often, until the breadcrumbs are lightly toasted.
• Transfer the breadcrumbs to a bowl and allow them to cool for a few minutes, then stir in the sugar.

The Sauce 

1. Heat the wine or water until boiling in a small saucepan.  Remove it from the heat and stir in a pinch of saffron. Allow the saffron to sit in the warm water or wine for about 20 minutes.

2. Heat extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet.  Saute the onion until it is translucent, then add the minced garlic, anchovies, and a little of the oil is packed in.  Break up the anchovies with a wooden spoon or the back of a fork. 

3. Add the chopped fennel fronds, stems, and the wine mixture to the pan.  Cook until the fennel begins to soften, and the wine reduces by half, about 2-3 minutes.  

4. Stir in the sardines, currants, and pine nuts and cook over low heat until the sardines are cooked through. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.  

Meanwhile, cook the pasta to al dente in a large pot of water. Add the pasta to the skillet with the sauce and add enough of the pasta water to make the sauce silky as it coats the pasta.

Serve the Pasta with a sprinkle of the “muddica”.

Cooking Tips

• If you want to use fresh sardines but have never cleaned them, this step-by-step guide from Serious Eats provides a thorough, easy-to-follow explanation.
• ​There is no need to soak the currants ahead of time.  They will plump up in the sauce.
• If you want a more pronounced anise flavor, you can crush some fennel seeds and add them to the sauce with the garlic and anchovies.  This will add another layer of anise flavor.  
• Sardines are fragile, so be gentle when you stir them into the sauce, or they will crumble.  You want the sauce to have little chunks of the fish in it.
• Make sure to reserve a cup of the pasta water so you can thin out the sauce if it is too dry.
• Pasta con le Sarde is best eaten right away.

Serving Suggestions

In Sicily, Pasta con sarde is usually served as part of a meatless meal for holidays such as Christmas Eve, St. Joseph’s Day, or Good Friday.  It would ordinarily be the first course and might be followed by other vegetable dishes like Fried Artichoke Hearts or Stuffed Artichokes alla Siciliana.  You could also serve a refreshing salad like this Orange and Fennel Salad and end your meal with some Sfingi or flaky Cannoli Shells filled with sweet Cannoli Cream.

Variations

You will find variations of this dish all across Sicily.  

There are two versions that we enjoy in our family.  This one and a version of Pasta con Sarde in tomato sauce, which is how they make it in Enna.  My mother makes this version with tomato puree for her church’s annual St. Joseph’s Day table.

In Agrigento, a little tomato paste is added to the sauce.  Just enough to give the sauce some color.  While in Messina the sauce is made without saffron.     

In other versions that I have seen, lemon zest or lemon juice is added to the sauce.  

Storage and Reheating

Leftover pasta alle sarde can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2 days.  It can be reheated gently on the stovetop or in a microwave until just heated through.  I don’t recommend freezing leftover pasta, but the sauce can be frozen for up to two months.

The Origin of Pasta con le Sarde

Pasta con sarde is a recipe that dates back to the Middle Ages and was derived from need.  It is said that Euphemius of Messina, a Byzantine general, rebelled against his empire and allied with the Aghlabid Arabs, helping them conquer Sicily. According to legend, when Arab forces landed in Mazara del Vallo on the island’s western coast, the invading troops were tired, hungry, and needing nourishment after a long and grueling journey. The ship’s cook was forced to make a meal using only what was readily available on land and from the sea. He combined fresh sardines from the sea, wild fennel growing in the countryside, pine nuts, raisins, saffron (staples in the Arab diet), and pasta.

 The result was an incredibly flavorful dish that reflected both Sicily’s natural bounty and the Arab influence.  Pasta alle Sarde has remained a staple in Palermo and western Sicily, especially in spring, when wild fennel and fresh sardines are plentiful. It has become a traditional dish prepared for Saint Joseph’s Day (March 19), which is a holiday dedicated to feeding the poor.  

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Pasta con le Sarde Recipe

Pasta alle Sarde Sicilaina (Sicilian Pasta with Sardines)

Enza Whiting

Pasta alle Sarde is a delicious centuries-old Sicilian dish made in honor of St. Joseph's Day. The combination of sardines, anchovies, currants, fennel, and pine nuts in the sauce perfectly balances sweet, savory, and briny flavors. It is traditionally served over a long pasta like spaghetti or bucatini and topped with toasted bread crumbs as part of the meatless meal dedicated to the beloved Saint.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course First course, Main Course

Cuisine Italian, Sicilian

Servings 4 servings

Calories 766 kcal

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Equipment

• ▢
  1 Sauté Pan

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

Muddica – Toasted Bread Crumb Topping

• ▢ 1 cup Plain Bread Crumbs
• ▢ 2 tbsp Olive Oil
• ▢ 1 tsp Sugar

Pasta con Sarde

• ▢ ½ cup White wine
• ▢ 1 pinch Saffron Threads
• ▢ 3 tbsp Olive Oil Extra Virgin
• ▢ ½ Onion Large, diced
• ▢ 4 cloves Garlic Minced
• ▢ 5-6 Anchovy Fillets Packed in oil
• ▢ 1 cup Fennel Stalks and Fronds Finely diced
• ▢ 8 oz Sardines Packed in oil or four large fresh
• ▢ ¼ cup Currants or Raisins
• ▢ ¼ cup Pine Nuts
• ▢ Salt and Black Pepper to Taste
• ▢ 1 lb Spaghetti or Bucatini Pasta

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Instructions

 

Breadcrumbs "Muddica"

• Heat the olive oil in a skillet. Add the breadcrumbs to the skillet and cook, stirring often, until the breadcrumbs are lightly toasted.

  Transfer the breadcrumbs to a bowl and allow them to cool for a few minutes, then stir in the sugar.
  1 cup Plain Bread Crumbs, 2 tbsp Olive Oil, 1 tsp Sugar

Pasta alle Sarde

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta according to package instructions.
  1 lb Spaghetti
• Heat the wine in a small saucepan and add a pinch of saffron threads. Stir and let the threads steep in the wine to soften and dissolve for about 20 minutes. The saffron may not dissolve completely.
  ½ cup White wine, 1 pinch Saffron Threads
• Heat extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet.  Saute the onion until it is translucent, then add the minced garlic, anchovies, and a little of the oil they are packed in.  Break up the anchovies with a wooden spoon or the back of a fork. 
  3 tbsp Olive Oil, ½ Onion, 4 cloves Garlic, 5-6 Anchovy Fillets
• Add the chopped fennel fronds, stems, and wine mixture to the pan.  Cook until the fennel begins to soften, and the wine reduces by half, about 2-3 minutes
  1 cup Fennel Stalks and Fronds
• Stir in the sardines, currants, and pine nuts and cook over low heat until the sardines are cooked through. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.  
  8 oz Sardines, ¼ cup Currants, ¼ cup Pine Nuts, Salt and Black Pepper to Taste
• Drain the pasta, reserving a cup of pasta water. Add the pasta to the skillet with the sauce and add enough of the pasta water to make the sauce silky as it coats the pasta. Serve the pasta immediately with a sprinkle of breadcrumbs.

Notes

Cooking Tips

• If you want to use fresh sardines but have never cleaned them, this step-by-step guide from Serious Eats provides a thorough, easy-to-follow explanation.
• ​There is no need to soak the currants ahead of time.  They will plump up in the sauce.
• If you want a more pronounced anise flavor, you can crush some fennel seeds and add them to the sauce with the garlic and anchovies.  This will add another layer of anise flavor.  
• Sardines are fragile, so be gentle when you stir them into the sauce, or they will crumble.  You want the sauce to have little chunks of the fish in it.
• Make sure to reserve a cup of the pasta water so you can thin out the sauce if it is too dry.
• Pasta con le Sarde is best eaten right away.

Nutrition

Serving: 1servingsCalories: 766kcalCarbohydrates: 97gProtein: 32gFat: 25gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 8gMonounsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 85mgSodium: 383mgPotassium: 769mgFiber: 5gSugar: 11gVitamin A: 102IUVitamin C: 5mgCalcium: 283mgIron: 4mg

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