Zucchini Spaghetti con le Sarde

Pasta con le sarde is a traditional Sicilian dish prepared with sardines and anchovies. The flavor is best when made with fresh fish, but you can easily make the dish taste flavorful and delicious using the canned variety. This Sicilian staple is commonly cooked with bucatini, a thick spaghetti, but zucchini makes a wonderful substitute, as it is similar in size. If you want your zucchini to look more like bucatini, peel before you spiralize. Just be sure you don’t cook down your zucchini too much before adding the sauce; it will soften from the heat of the sardine sauce.

Serves 2

2 large zucchini

1⁄4 teaspoon salt

1⁄2 head fennel (including leaves)

1⁄2 medium onion

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1⁄4 cup pine nuts

4 sardines

2 anchovy fillets

1⁄4 cup currants

2 tablespoons bread crumbs

  1. Cut zucchini in half crosswise; slice off both ends. Spiralize using a small-noodle blade. Set aside.
  2. Fill a medium-sized pot with water, add salt, and bring to a boil. Add fennel and boil for 10–15 minutes. Remove fennel from water and chop fennel fronds (the leaves); set them aside for later. Keep 1–2 cups of fennel water for the sauce.
  3. Finely chop the onion. In a large pan, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil on medium heat. Add onions and cook for about 3–4 minutes until onions are translucent. Then add 1⁄2 cup reserved fennel water, fennel fronds, and pine nuts; simmer for 4–5 minutes.
  4. While onions and pine nuts are cooking, finely chop sardines and anchovies. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium-sized pan on medium-low heat, add the fish, and cook for about 2–3 minutes.
  5. Add sardines and anchovies to the pan with onion. Add 1⁄4 cup reserved fennel water and currants to the pan, stir the sauce, and simmer for 2–3 minutes.
  6. In a small pan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil on medium heat to toast bread crumbs. Add bread crumbs and stir constantly for about 3–4 minutes until they are golden brown. After sardine sauce has simmered, add bread crumbs. Remove sauce from heat.
  7. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large pan on medium heat. Add zucchini and cook for about 2 minutes or until just slightly softened. Remove from heat and add sardine sauce, tossing until evenly coated. Serve warm.

Zucchini-to-Sauce Ratio

This recipe yields a pasta heavy in the sauce, but if you prefer your noodles to be lightly tossed in the sardine sauce, then consider adding more zucchini noodles to dilute the impact of the sardines. One or two more zucchini should do the trick.