Sicilian Sardine Sauce
This week’s ingredient list is eclectic. The star ingredient is sardines which I will admit I was less than enthusiastic about. Fennel tops, raisins, onion, anchovy fillets, pine nuts, saffron, tomato paste, and bread crumbs round out the supporting ingredients. This is going to be something. I reminded myself about the pledge I took and started cooking.
After a series of food preparation steps and cooking techniques the sauce was ready. With all of the independently flavorful foods present only the raisins and sardines seemed to shine through. The small amount of raisins didn’t taste like raisins at all but gave all their sweetness to the sauce. Beyond that it just tasted fishy to me. Yes, I know it was made with fresh sardines and anchovies but the result was more powerful than I expected. The fennel used was extremely fragrant but you would never guess it was in there. I tasted it repeatedly to look for more distinction but found none. I had hoped to eat a whole serving since it was tossed with my beloved bucatini. I tried to like it…I could not. This is a recipe I will not make again. However, I would taste it once more if prepared by someone that is good at preparing Sicilian cuisine so I can compare the two experiences.
©2010 Irene D. Ericson
It had to happen eventually for you, Irene. It would be unreasonable to expect that we would cook through the entire cookbook and love every single dish.
That’s why our tastes are different.
My dish for tomorrow is the same sauce only used in a baked pasta instead of tossed.
I’m not an expert on Sicilian cooking either, so we shall see how mine turns out.
I have had failures as well. In some cases, I have no doubt it was my execution or ingredients. I think in other cases it just comes down to taste. My girlfriend’s uncle loves the taste of the sea for example. I only love it sometimes eg in fresh oysters or a beautifully cooked bit of fish.
I’m sorry it wasn’t to your taste, but your honesty about the dish is appreciated. Hopefully you will love your next dish!
I love sardines and am lucky to be able to procure fresh ones easily and inexpensively.
Pasta con le Sarde is one of Sicily’s most admired and complex dishes, but it has a deep, musky flavor that I can understand may not be agreeable to everyone at first. I wonder whether your sardines were really, really fresh. Sardines are the kind of fish that we call “azzurro” or blue, referring to the dark color of their flesh. Anchovies, mackerel, and the blue fish from Long Island are in the same group. They are oily fish and their oil turns rancid very rapidly. After I moved to Florida, I had such a yen for sardines, which can have more flavor than any other fish, that I very expensively ordered a couple of pounds of sardines that I was assured had just been flown in from the Mediterranean. They were Fed Exed from New York, I took one sniff, and threw them out. The best Pasta con le Sarde I ever had was cooked by the monsù, the private chef, of the owner of the great Regaleali winery in Sicily, the late Count Tasca.