This summer my family and I traveled to Italy for over two weeks of glorious swimming, walking, eating and drinking. We visited Rome, Naples, Capri and several parts of Sicily, including a stop to see relatives who speak no English yet shower us with attention and home cooked meals every time we see them.  Besides pizza and pasta, which I ate in copious amounts, I think of fresh seafood when I think of food in Italy.  The most iconic Sicilian dish is Pasta Con Le Sarde, which includes Sardines, pignoli, raisins, fennel fronds and breadcrumbs.  It is absolutely delicious and can be made with either fresh sardines or really good quality canned.

An easier dish that I tried in Capri was Paccheri Con Le Sarde, which I found simple to recreate at home.  It’s similar to the Sicilian dish only in that it contains sardines, but is less complicated and easier to make.  I love paccheri pasta as it is large and toothsome, the perfect compliment to a deliciously rich fresh tomato and sardine toss.  The myth is that paccheri was invented as a way to smuggle highly sought-after Sicilian garlic into Prussia in the 1600s.  The legend contends that Sicilian garlic was so far superior to Prussia’s that the government closed the trade route so Prussia’s garlic farmers had a chance of selling their own products to their people. The elite Austrian and Hungarians were not going to let a good thing go so they allowed the Sicilians to smuggle the garlic in with this inventive solution of hiding cloves inside of paccheri.   

This dish celebrates garden cherry or grape tomatoes, basil and of course garlic, preferably Sicilian, as well as the sardines

Ingredients

·       ½  lb paccheri pasta

·       Salt

·       Pat of butter

·       Olive oil

·       2 fat cloves garlic, chopped

·       Crushed red pepper flakes

·       A pint of cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half

·       4 large fresh sardines, cleaned and deboned and then chopped OR 2 cans high quality sardines in unflavored oil, not salt packed, chopped *

·       A handful of fresh basil, chiffonaded

·       Chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

Note: * You can find good canned sardines, usually they are from Spain, Portugal or Sicily but some more local options are out there.  I like these brands- Matiz, Bela, Ortiz and Wild Planet  

Directions

Cook the paccheri in heavily salted boiling water until al dente-do not overcook.  Save one cup of cooking water and drain the pasta in a colander.  Toss with a pat of butter to prevent sticking. 

Saute the garlic in olive oil over low heat until it starts to soften but do not burn.  If you burn it, throw it out and start over.  After only a minute or two, the garlic will have flavored the oil.  Add a pinch of crushed red pepper, ½ cup of the cooking water and the tomatoes.  Saute over medium heat until the tomatoes start to break apart.  This could take a good 5-7 minutes. While the tomatoes are cooking, they are giving off liquid which is keeping the garlic from burning and thickening to create a nice sauce.  If the sauce is starting to dry out, add the rest of the cooking water and lower the heat.

Add the chopped sardines and cook about 10 minutes or until fully cooked.  If using canned, you just need to heat the sardines through, about 5 minutes. Add the fresh basil and stir.  Add the paccheri to the pan and toss completely until coated nicely, another minute.  Taste and adjust for seasoning but you may find it needs no additional salt.

Serve in bowls with hit of fresh parsley and a side of crusty bread.

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