The Story
Though perhaps a little late in life, and unhelpfully complicated by its realities, if I could choose someone to be when I grow up, without a doubt I’d be Inspector Montalbano. Aside from pleasantly relatable traits, such as his warranted, weary grouchiness and exaggerated hand gestures, Montalbano is a man who pays food the respect that it deserves. The novels, and closely-adapted television series, feature a veritable dreamscape of food, and aren’t shy of lengthy pauses in crime-fighting for the sake of a fragrant sun-drenched meal. Even if we can’t all find a few hours in the middle of our work day to enjoy lunch by the sea or at home prepared by our housekeeper, relish your food like Montalbano and you’ll live a life of true contentment.
Over the next few months we’re going to be cooking up a few recipes taken straight from the great commissario’s table. This week we’re starting with the incredible pasta con le sarde, one of Salvo’s favourite dishes. You can find this in Il cane di terracotta, The Terracotta Dog, when Adelina cooks it to celebrate Livia going home. Honestly, Livia, what a pest. It’s a magnificently simple and fresh Sicilian dish, showing some of those Arabic and North African influences in the raisins, pine nuts, and saffron. As the name suggests, it features sardines, one of my Ma’s favourite ingredients. And so, having the very rare opportunity to cook for her this weekend, con le sarde was meant to be.
The Pasta
Pasta con le sarde is typically served with bucatini or spaghetti, so we’ve returned to our extruder for a fresh batch of squid-ink bucatini.
Remember that the trick to extruded pasta is keeping the dough a little drier than you would for rolled pasta. It should clump together when pinched, but otherwise crumble like buttered breadcrumbs. Knead for 10 minutes, then rest it for 30. Run the machine on high speed, feed the dough in in walnut-sized pieces, and cut to lengths of around 30cm.
As always, cook the bucatini in a large pot of lightly salted water until no raw dough is visible when the pasta is cut into.
The sauce is fantastically simple. Just fry the fennel, onion, and anchovies over low heat for around 20 minutes, then add the wine and saffron, reducing it on medium heat until almost dry. Toss in the pine nuts, raisins and sardines, give it a minute, and stir in the cooked and drained pasta. Add a little pasta water back in if needed to aid emulsification with the sauce.
Finally, stir in the lemon zest and juice, and serve with the breadcrumbs, fennel fronds, and a crack of pepper.
So good that Montalbano would frown at it.
Buon appetito!
– Al & Al & El.
Equipment
- Pasta extruder, or KitchenAid Stand Mixer with pasta extruder attachment; bucatini extruder plate
Ingredients
Pasta
- 140 g plain flour
- 140 g semolina
- 1 egg
- 90 ml cold water note: minus the volume of the eggs, ie. add the eggs to your measuring jug first and then bring to the mark with cold water
- 4 g squid ink
Sauce
- 200 g sardines chopped into strips (we used Mendolia Seafoods)
- 240 g fennel chopped, fronds reserved
- 15 g raisins
- 15 g pine nuts
- 2 large anchovies
- 1 pinch saffron
- 1/2 chopped onion
- 3 tbsp olive oil extra virgin (we used Rio Vista Olives' Augusto)
- 35 ml white wine
- 20 g toasted breadcrumbs
- 1/2 lemon zest and juice
Instructions
Pasta
- Begin by preparing the pasta dough. Whisk the egg and squid ink into the water, and then gradually stir it through the plain flour and semolina. Knead for about 10 minutes, before refrigerating for half an hour. Note that the dough should look and feel a bit like buttered breadcrumbs, but hold together when pinched between your fingers. Add a small amount of water if it’s too dry. Note: to make the most of your time, jump ahead and make the sauce while the dough rests.
- Set your extruder to its top speed, and feed in loosely clumped balls of dough, around the size of walnuts. Avoid overfilling, and note that it may take a few minutes of the dough being kneaded inside the extruder before it begins to come out.
- Chop the pasta using an extruder cutter or sharp knife as it reaches desired bucatini length, around 30cm.
- Transfer to a baking paper lined oven tray, and refrigerate uncovered for up to a week.
Sauce
- Gently fry the fennel, onion, and anchovies in the olive oil over low heat until soft; 15-20 minutes.
- Raise the heat to medium and add the wine and saffron, allowing it to reduce until almost dry.
- Stir in the pine nuts and raisins, and then add the sardines, frying them until cooked; around 1 minute.
- Cook the pasta by boiling it in a large pot of lightly salted water. It's ready once no raw, white dough is visible when the pasta is cut into.
- Lightly drain the pasta, and then drop directly into the pan with the sauce. Add the lemon zest and juice, and toss well.
- Serve with the breadcrumbs, fennel fronds, and a crack of pepper.
