Palermo-style bucatini with sardines

Ingredients

For 1 serving

• Durum wheat pasta80 g
• Sardines100 g
• Fennel100 g
• Raisins10 g
• Pine nuts8 g
• Onion40 g
• Saffron1 pinch
• Extra virgin olive oil2 teaspoons
• Breadcrumbs5 g
• Saltto taste

Contains: gluten, nuts, fish, sulphites,

In season: March – June

Method

1. Put the raisins to soak in warm water. Clean the sardines: remove the heads, open them out flat, pull out the backbone, rinse and pat dry.
2. Wash the fennel and cut it into wedges, keeping the green fronds. Bring a pan of water to the boil, salt it and cook the fennel for 10 minutes, until tender to a fork; lift it out with a slotted spoon, keeping the water, and chop it into small pieces, chopping the fronds too.
3. Meanwhile, toast the breadcrumbs in a dry pan over medium heat for 2–3 minutes, until golden, and set them aside. Dissolve the saffron in a spoonful of hot water.
4. In the same pan, soften the finely chopped onion in the oil over low heat for 5 minutes, until translucent.
5. Bring the fennel water back to the boil and cook the durum wheat bucatini for the packet time (about 10–11 minutes), until al dente.
6. Meanwhile, add the sardines, the squeezed raisins, the pine nuts and the saffron to the onion and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, breaking up the sardines, until cooked through and flaking. Add the fennel and a ladleful of its water and cook for 3 minutes, until the sauce comes together.
7. Drain the bucatini into the pan and toss for a minute over high heat, until well coated.
8. Serve sprinkled with the toasted breadcrumbs.