Why People Are OBSESSED with this Pasta Dish | Pasta Con Le Sarde

So there's this pasta dish that I've heard a lot about but I've never tried. There's a good reason why I've never tried it, I'll explain that later, but I've heard about this dish because a ton of people have written to us about it. We get messages and emails all the time, people asking, hey do you have a recipe for pasta con le sardine? Now pasta con le sardine just means pasta with sardines, which I know doesn't really sound very exciting, but clearly this dish is enormously popular, especially among Italian Americans, especially those of Sicilian descent, which makes sense, it's a Sicilian dish. And just constantly we're hearing from people who they remember maybe their nonna making this dish and they're trying to replicate it at home but they can't find a recipe that's the same or what they find in a restaurant doesn't seem like what they remembered but they're obsessed with it. When I put questions out on Twitter, of all the serious ones, one popped out which was what is his favorite pasta dish? Pasta con sardine. So there must be something to this recipe and I want to try it. So Eva's going to make it for me today, my first pasta con le sardine. Now she's going to show how it's made in Sicily and that's great but there is a slight problem with this recipe which is that depending on where you live it can be tricky to find the necessary ingredients, which is why I've never had it before. But have no fear, even if you are in the predicament I was in where you can't make pasta con le sardine at home, Eva does have a little trick up her sleeve that might get you close. Okay so what's the problem with making pasta con le sardine? This is the problem with pasta con le sardine. Now that is a problem here in Italy because as you can see here in Italy it's very easy to find the fresh sardine. In America it's a little bit more difficult so you need to rely on those canned sardines but those doesn't give to the pasta the real taste that the pasta should have. You need fresh sardine. Gloves are on. Because the first step is to clean our sardines. So you start from the head. You take out the head. Then you take out intestine. You need to open because we need the sardine open. You take out the bone bone, the local bone. The spine. The spine. And the sardine is cleaned. How would you say these differ from fresh anchovies which I'm more familiar with? Because the sardine they have a fattier taste. They have a stronger taste. They are not so delicate like the alici. They have more bones than the alici. And actually with the sardine you can do a lot of things. You can fry them. You can make them into cutlet. You can make the tortino. You can use as a stuffing. You can make from the north of Italy sardine saor. So let us know if you want more recipe with sardine because now they are so easy available. Yeah for us. For us yes. And now we need to wash them just one by one under running water. Fresh running water. As opposed to salt water? No to hot water. Oh cold running water. Fresh cold water. I was confused. Here I have a pot of boiling water and here I have some fresh wild fennel. My dad this morning went to grab this for me because he's a very good dad. But if you can't find the wild fennel you can also use the front of a normal fennel that you find in every grocery shop. Maybe it doesn't smell like the wild one but it will work. What we need to do now is salt the water and we boil the fennel for about five seven minutes. And while the fennel is cooking we need to prepare the cheese for for people or as I like to call it the vegan cheese. Sicilian style. Which means that we need a pan, olive oil and bread crumb. We are going to toast the bread crumb on a medium low heat because we don't want to burn it. We want just to toast it. In Sicily this is called mojica torrata and this is used in Sicily as a topping instead of cheese for a lot of their traditional recipes. When the bread crumb starts to brown you know that it's done. Now fennel is ready. Don't think to throw away the water because we are going to cook the pasta into this water. Now is the moment in which we can start with the sauce. Unlike most of the Sicilian recipes also this is going to use raisin. But before we use the raisin we need to soak the raisin in some water. Keep in mind that you should soak the raisin for about 10 minutes. Now we need an onion. Here I'm in Calabria I'm going to use the wonderful Tropea onion. Use whatever onion you like or you prefer or you have. So we start with olive oil, onion and we're going to add two anchovies filling. Oh interesting so it's not just pasta con le sardine it's also with anchovies. The anchovies is something that just give that kick. And now we need to saute the onion a little bit and dissolve make the anchovies completely dissolve into the oil. I'm going to use medium low heat because I don't want to burn the onion and I don't want my anchovies start to splash everywhere because this is what happens if you put anchovies in hot oil. This is another fundamental Sicilian ingredient saffron. Oh I think you're gonna say water. No saffron not. We are going to add a small bag of saffron but we need to melt the saffron into some water. Another stable ingredient in the Sicilian cuisine is pine nuts. You can't have pine nuts without raisins and vice versa. I know I see that you learn the basics of the Sicilian food. After a minute that pine nuts and raisins are making love with the rest of the ingredients. This is a very passionate recipe. This is the moment in which we are going to add our sardines. Now we need to cut the sardine in half and put inside. It smells delicious but I do have to say I don't think I've ever smelled a pasta quite like this. That's very unique. And now you're starting to understand why all the people are obsessed with this. Now is the moment of the fennel but we are not going to put the fennel like this inside. We need to chop it. We need to salt, black pepper. I'm going to add just a little bit of the fennel water and I will let this simmer for about 10 minutes. So the sauce is done. I'm going to turn off the heat because the last step is to cook the pasta. Now Harper I want to understand if you really are into the Sicilian food. Which kind of pasta we're going to use? Okay I know the answer even though you have it sitting right next to you but of course it's bucatini. Of course it's bucatini because Sicilians are obsessed with bucatini. I love Sicily. I love my Sicilian friends but I don't understand their obsession because I don't like bucatini at all. But I follow the tradition. I respect them. You know as well as I do that there are some recipes that bucatini is just amazing. I know, I know, I know. I know that they work very well but as pasta itself I prefer spaghetti. My mom for example she loves bucatini. My dad he loves bucatini. I'm going to add a little bit of pasta water into the sauce and I turn on the heat on a very low temperature, low heat because like like every pasta dish it's better for me to take the pasta then finish to cook it into the sauce. Believe me that the smell of this pasta is amazing. I can confirm. Now the most challenging part of this recipe plating bucatini. It's impossible there is no way in which you can plate the bucatini. So Arthur are you ready to try your first dish of pasta con le sarde? Absolutely. But before you need to tell us about today's video sponsor. You know how frustrating it is to go into a cell phone store and try to get a new cell phone plan? 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But it smells different and looks different than anything I've ever had. Oh bucatini. Oh bucatini. That is the tricky part of the bucatini. I'm just plating them but also okay wish me luck here. Bon appetito. Oh that is not what I imagined. In a good or in a bad way Alper? In a delicious way. But I was really expecting the sardines to be much more fishy. I mean I'm used to just thinking sardines and you think like anchovies that sort of heavily preserved super salty super fishy fish. Nope. That is very delicate. Because fresh sardines they are delicate. Ah bucatini. I love you and hate you. It's really good. That's a really good fish. Good morning Alper. I don't know anything about fresh sardines. This is the first time I've had them. I am completely on board with this. I completely understand why someone would be obsessed with this dish. Now I understand why everyone wants to know how their nonna made this. I want to know how nonna ate the bucatini. Me too actually. Okay this is amazing plate of pasta. You're dying for a bite aren't you? Yes Alper. It's not just me. No I have the only problem that I have this with pasta dish is the bucatini. Look because they're swinging. The bucatini are swinging everywhere. Yeah but it's so good. Okay enjoy your meal. What can I say? It's so good. It's so good. It's one of those pasta dishes that makes you understand how good and beautiful Sicily is. Even if you've never been to Sicily. And the sardines fresh. They taste so delicate. They are so full of flavor. It's it's probably one of the best fish I've ever had. Oh. I really think so. It really blew me away. And it's one of the cheapest fish that you can find. Well here. Yes here. Because nobody wants it. Because it's not like so precious like I don't know salmon or I don't know what. But it's one of the best. What does someone do if they can't find fresh sardines? Okay yeah I don't see any sarday here. You don't see any sarday because this pasta is called pasta con le sarde a mare. Which means that the sardine they stay in the water in the sea. So we are not going to use the sard. So this is literally the Sicilian pasta for if you don't have sarday. See they call this pasta con le sarde a mare. The ingredients are more or less the same. The technique is the same. We have just some few differences that they make a difference in the pasta. Like before we start with the fennel that we need to cook for about five seven minutes in boiling water. As before we are going to start the sauce with olive oil, onion and we are going to add the