Italiano
Bucatini with sardines and wild fennel
From the south to the north of Italy. We pair this typical Sicilian dish with a Collio Sauvignon Borgo Conventi.
This is one of the many variations of a recipe that, from Palermo to Messina, can be prepared in a host of ways, some with tomato and all excellent. The type of pasta can also vary. I have selected bucatini, thick spaghetti with a hole through them, but even normal spaghetti or linguini are fine as are penne.
Ingredients for 4 people:
250g wild fennel, 400g fresh sardines, 400g bucatini, 1 shallot, 2 anchovies, 25g pine nuts, 20g raisins, 50g bread crumbs, a pinch of saffron, chili pepper as desired, extra-virgin olive oil and salt.
Directions:
Wash the wild fennel well and then boil it for 4-5 minutes in slightly salted water. Remove the fennel using a skimmer and save the water to cook the pasta.
Clean the sardines and then remove the heads, slice them down the middle, take out the central spine and leave them open. Fry in a pan with a little EVOO.
Chop up the fennel with a knife and sauté it with the minced shallot, the anchovies that have had their central spine removed and add chili pepper as desired. Put in the pine nuts and raisins and salt to taste.
Dissolve the saffron in a glass of the water from boiling the fennel.
Toast the bread crumbs with a little EVOO and keep to the side.
Boil the bucatini in the fennel water and drain when they are still very undercooked (al dente) and add them to the pan with the other ingredients together with the saffron water. Raise the heat and cook mixing everything together.
Put everything into a baking pot and sprinkle on the bread crumbs and bake for a few minutes at 200°C.
Wine to pair:
Collio Sauvignon Borgo Conventi
Straw yellow color with green shades. Typical bouquet, with varietal notes of green pepper, tomato leaf and boxwood, enhanced by smoky hints and sage. On the palate it is taut, elegant and with good persistence.
Production area: the hills of Collio DOC district. The soil of the area is a friable mixture of marls and sandstone from the underlying stratified layers, and usually it is clayey in the higher grounds and fine-grained at the foot of the hill slopes. The temperatures are mild with rainy springs and hot, dry summers.
Grape variety: Sauvignon. Age of vines between 10 and 45 years, planting density of 4-7000 vines/ha, Guyot and Sylvoz training system.
Wine making: The grapes are harvested in the early hours of the day, followed by light crushing and temperature controlled fermentation in stainless steel tanks for ten days. A variably small percentage of selected grapes undergoes cold maceration before light crushing. Once fermentation is completed the wine remains on the fine lees until spring, when it is bottled.
Serving temperature: 10-12°C
Suggested food pairings: Flavor-rich starters, asparagus-based risottos and frittatas, grilled or fried fish, crustaceans, and white-meat dishes.
