Thank you Chef Antonio Gelone for sharing your secrets of this most delectable Sicilian dish. It is cooked across the fair isle with each region adding its own twist – here in Agrigento that means a tomato and fennel base. Simply superb!

Pasta con le Sarde

Ingredients
40g raisins,
1 onion diced
Tops of 6 fennel bulbs
6tbs olive oil
200gm pinenuts
15 sardines, cleaned and boned, heads removed, to produce butterfly fillets,
500ml tomato sauce
480g bucatini (pasta)
2 tablespoons toasted breadcrumbs

Method
1. Soak the sultanas or raisins in wine or warm water to plump up. Peel and thinly slice the onion.
2. Cook the fennel tops in plenty of boiling, salted water for 8 to 10 minutes, or until tender. Transfer with a slotted spoon to kitchen paper to dry, then roughly chop and place in a bowl, reserving the cooking water. 
3. Heat half the oil in a pan over a medium heat and sauté the onion for about 5 minutes, or until softened. Add sardines to pan and cook for 3-4 minutes until they start to disintegrate,
4. Meanwhile, heat half the oil in a frypan over medium heat, then add breadcrumbs and cook, tossing, for 2-3 minutes until golden. Transfer crumbs to a bowl and wipe pan clean.
5. Then add tomato sauce to the sardine mix and stir over a low heat for a few minutes. Drain and add raisins and pine nuts and simmer for 5 minutes. If necessary, add some of the reserved liquid to thin the sauce,
5. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in the boiling fennel water until al dente. Drain and serve with sauce, sprinkling breadcrumbs on top.

Courtesy of Relais Casina Miregia