These ribs, basted in a savory-sweet sauce, are unquestionably mouthwatering.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 5 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- ¾ cup dry bread crumbs
- 1 pinch saffron
- ¼ cup white wine
- 8 ounces bucatini pasta
- 1 cup diced yellow onion
- 1 cup diced fennel bulb
- 1 pinch salt, or to taste
- ¼ cup golden raisins
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 anchovy fillet
- ¼ cup toasted pine nuts
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
- 2 (4 ounce) cans sardines packed in oil, drained and crumbled
- 3 tablespoons chopped fennel fronds, or more to taste
Instructions
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add bread crumbs; cook and stir until crispy and toasted, 2 to 5 minutes. Transfer bread crumbs to a bowl.
- Grind saffron threads with a mortar and pestle; pour white wine into the mortar and stir to combine.
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook bucatini in boiling water, stirring occasionally, until almost fully cooked through but still firm to the bite, 10 to 11 minutes. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water.
- Heat remaining 4 tablespoons olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, fennel, and salt; cook and stir until onion is soft, about 10 minutes. Add raisins, garlic, and anchovy; cook and stir until heated through, about 1 minute.
- Pour wine mixture into the skillet and cook until almost evaporated, about 2 minutes. Pour 1 ladleful reserved pasta water into the skillet and bring to a simmer. Stir in pine nuts and red pepper flakes; simmer until flavors combine and sauce is reduced, about 5 minutes.
- Stir bucatini and sardines into the skillet. Increase the heat to high and cook, stirring frequently and adding more reserved pasta water as necessary, until sauce and pasta are heated through, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.
- Ladle into bowls and top with fennel fronds and toasted bread crumbs.
- You can substitute thick spaghetti for the bucatini if desired.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 709 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 72 g |
| Cholesterol | 81 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 28 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Sodium | 532 mg |
| Sugars | 9 g |
| Fat | 33 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I too added more fennel, about another cup. Extra raisins too, maybe 1/3 cup total. I did not have pine nuts, so I used walnuts. Did not do the bread crumbs, just served with crunchy bread. Drizzled with olive oil and coarse salt. It was yummy.
I made this exactly as chef John’s recipe is listed. I wasn’t sure what to expect but it was a wonderful surprise. Fantastic pasta dish. Rich, complex flavors.
I was surprised how well all the flavors blended together-
Very disappointing. We cook every night and know our way around the kitchen, but this dish was so void of flavor that we considered having ourselves tested for CoronaVirus. We couldn’t even detect the anchovy or fennel. Win some – Lose some
Pretty, pretty good but I would tweak per personal preference. Double the raisins. Add whole can of anchovies (what can you do with leftovers anyway?). I think capers would be an excellent addition as well. Love the basic recipe..just want MORE of it. Did not do the bread crumbs which am sure are delicious. Next time.
This was amazing! Years ago a friend’s Italian mother made me the most amazing pasta dish with anchovies. This was close. I used 3 tins of sardines.I didn’t have saffron, and I used linguine. We love anchovies , I used the whole tin plus the oil. Next time I’ll use a whole head of fennel. I had some sourdough croutons and used those. I will definitely make this again. Thanks for a wonderful recipe for anchovy lovers!
Fantastic.. I added 2 anchovy filets instead of one, used dark raisins instead of golden and also chopped them up. Needed a little salt, but it really brought out the flavor in the pine nuts & fennel. I love this. I will definitely make it again.
So good – love the mix of flavors and textures. I like it with panko bread crumbs on top.
Yum Yum Yum!!! This is so good. My dad was from Sicily as well as my mothers parents and let me tell you this is very authentic and delicious. That first bite takes me to my ancestors home town of Mazara Del Vallo. Definitely not for everyone as my husband isn’t a fan but for me it’s molta buona!
I don’t like anchovies or sardines, but my son asked for something with anchovies and I found this. I thought it turned out pretty good, not as fishy tasting as I was expecting. My son who loves fish thought it was amazing, and even my husband who hates fish managed to eat a bowl at dinner. All in all, a good dish.
I’ve made this dish before using other recipes and this is the least flavorful of them all. I’ve gone back to the other recipes to try and figure out where this one falls short. The first thing I noticed is that the others use red onions, not white. The second is that because the fennel and onions cook at different rates, the best recipes cook them separately to avoid the onions browning before the fennel. Then they mix them together once cooked. Then there the proportions. I would double the fennel and the garlic. Add a good handful of chopped parsley. Use more anchovy. The sardines are very important. Use a high quality brand packed with olive oil. And, lastly, I don’t think bucatini are correct for this dish. I’d use spaghetti. They are thinner and absorb the flavors more evenly.
Let me start by saying, that I am a big fan of Chef John. Most of his original recipes are outstanding, and he puts unique twists on common recipes that make them typically even better. But this recipe was not one of those favorites. Honestly, my dislike is probably more a matter of personal taste that anything specific about the recipe. I was somewhat skeptical from the start, but was willing to give it a shot due to Chef John’s track record of surprising me and winning me over in similar situations. The various ingredients sounded like some interesting flavor combinations…but in the end it all just melded together into something that no one in the family cared for.
Made it exactly as written. Loved the pasta and seasonings. Especially that hint of anchovies. Love croutons especially home made. For this they were a total waste of time and really interfered with the taste of the Bucatini pasta. Also made it too dry. Would recommend side of salad/garlic bread instead.
Thank you Chef John! I made it exactly as written. Seasoned to taste. It was lovely. I’ve never tried sardines, I was pleasantly surprised by this recipe.
This was quite good! Did not use the anchovy filet and put in a little extra salt instead. Surprisingly the raisins went really good with the other flavours.
The video was very helpful, but I think I need to practice. It was OK, but not great.
Really good comfort food! And surprisingly easy. I had never had sardines and was intimidated at first, but they are so good for you and the video made it look easy. Made only half the recipe with generous amounts of bread crumbs and pine nuts and no saffron. Other than that, I followed exactly and it was so worth it! I think it helped to have all the ingredients in place. I made the bread crumbs while pulling everything else together, and then cleaned through the canned sardines while the onions/fennel cooked. The textures and flavors had incredible depth. The taste reminded me of the beach!
I’m an big fan of sardines and not a fan of pasta at all so this was interesting for me. I really enjoyed the dish. I bought the slightly more expensive ($2.50, instead of 99c) sardines in olive oil which turned out to be smaller, they had tony bones so they didn’t need to be cleaned, and they didn’t smell at all (unlike the stink of the 99c ones -which I’m totally used to-). I almost slipped the breadcrumbs for panko but I’m glad I didn’t. They were great. I had saffron in the house so this dish was super cheap to make too, which I really love.
This dish is delicious. This has become my go-to comfort food. I keep it stocked. The pine nuts, raisins, flavorful sardines and the fennel with a little bit of heat is so good. I really love it. I have made it several times with different white wines and sardine brands. I prefer using a Chablis and Kroger brand sardines (boneless/skinless). I almost always make it with-out the breadcrumbs. I either forget or just plain old don’t want to make the extra effort! Either way it’s fabulous. This dish and I have converted many onto the beauty of canned sardines. Thanks, Chef John!
Cooked the recipe as is with the exception of leaving out the pine nuts. I loved it. Everybody else wasn’t a fan. They didn’t care for the sardines. Great recipe.