Pasta Con Le Sarde (Sicilian Pasta with Sardines)

*Updated cooking method (again) 3/30/2020

Sicily, where my family is from, is a land of conquests. The Moors, the Romans, Berbers, Arabs, Persians, Byzantines - pretty much everybody has tromped through Sicily at some point in time, and has left some kind of mark on the people and the food. I believe that pasta con le sarde, a traditional Sicilian dish featuring sardines and pasta tossed with unheard-of flavor combinations, is one such example of what happens when you get such a diverse international palate influencing a cuisine. In this case, it's a Mediterranean cuisine, meaning you get to take fish and try to mix a bunch of flavors together. If you've ever experimented with cooking fish, you know that random flavors can often ruin a fish dish. I couldn't name any other dish that would combine raisins, saffron, fennel, and two kinds of salty preserved fish, but somehow this mix creates an incredible burst of salty and sweet, lightly perfumed, slightly floral, bizarrely colorful, and both crunchy and velvety from the mix of fried bread crumbs and silky pasta that's tossed quickly with its own cooking liquid. The closest thing I can think of to this dish would be a massaman curry, drawing again from influences of the Muslim / western world to work this into the existing (Thai) culture. But in many ways, this dish stands completely alone, and for that I have deep respect in a sea of pasta dishes that is Italian food.

Drawing from a rich supply of fresh fish, this recipe is probably spectacular with fresh sardines caught that day. But since most of us can't get that, I recommend that you invest in a couple of tins of very high quality sardines packed in olive oil. Tonight we used some from Portugal, and at $4-5 per box, it was totally worth it. Even if you don't splurge, at least be sure to get fish in pure olive oil, not a tomato sauce or water.

The dish traditionally calls for bucatini - a thin tube-like pasta - but we've done it both with this and with pappardelle. Both versions are shown in the photographs. I would strongly recommend a bronze die-cut bucatini as the pasta of choice, though, which will hold the sauce best.

Mushroom and Raisin Chutney

Poking through an excellent book by Jacques Pepin - Fast Food My Way, which is based on his public television series that brings a touch of European class to the quick and easy cooking style of Rachael Ray - I found a very bizarre sounding recipe for a mushroom chutney with raisins, tomato paste, and white wine.  It was almost like a quick pickling process, where you heat everything for a couple of minutes and then throw it into a mason jar to store in the fridge.  We served this with our Thanksgiving dinner, having made it the day before.  It was delicious, but I couldn't quite pin down the country that I thought this was from.  It almost had a Moroccan feel to it, but was made distinctly European from the addition of the barely simmered wine.  I highly recommend trying this out and serving either on its own or with some simple, roasted meat dishes.

Mushroom and Raisin Chutney
From Fast Food My Way, by Jacques Pepin

• 1 lb white buttom mushrooms, quartered
• 1/3 c dark raisins
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/3 c dry white wine
• 2 tsp chopped peeled fresh ginger
• 1 tbsp chopped garlic
• 1/2 c coarsely chopped onion
• 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp salt

A fairly simple list of ingredients with minimal prep

Not a lot to do, either - just throw everything in a pot for a few minutes

Put all ingredients in a nonreactive saucepan.  Bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat to low, and boil gently for 5 minutes.  Cool.

Serve cold from the refrigerator or at room temperature.