Macaroni and Sardine Pie (Sicily)

Appetizers

Ingredients

Bulb fennel - 3/4 pound

Salt

Fresh sardines - 1 pound

Salted anchovies - 5

Olive oil - 2 cups

Onions, sliced - 2

Pepper

Pine nuts - 1/2 cup

Seedless white raisins - 1/2 cup

Short thick macaroni - 1 3/4 pounds

Wash and trim the fennel, and put into a pan with about 8 cups cold salted water. Bring to a boil and cook for 10-15 minutes, or until tender. Drain thoroughly, gently squeeze dry and chop coarsely. Reserve the cooking liquid for later use.

Wash the sardines carefully, open them and remove the backbones and heads. Wash carefully in plenty of salted water, drain and wipe dry on a cloth. Wash and bone the anchovies, discarding heads and tails.

Heat half the oil in a pan and saute the onions until golden. Add half the sardines and crush them with a wooden spoon until reduced to a paste. Add the anchovies and continue to cook until these have dissolved into the sardine paste. Sprinkle lightly with salt and ground pepper. Add the pine nuts and white raisins, cover the pan and cook for a few minutes. 

Heat a little more oil in another pan and fry the rest of the sardines until brown, turning them once without breaking them. Season with salt and pepper, and continue to cook gently for 10 minutes.

Bring the fennel liquid to the boil, add the macaroni and cook until tender but still firm. Drain, turn into a bowl and mix thoroughly with half the sardine sauce. Put a layer of the dressed macaroni at the bottom of an ovenproof dish. Cover with a few of the cooked whole sardines and a few tbsps of sauce. Continue in this manner until all ingredients are used up, the top layer should be of macaroni, spread with sauce. Cover the dish and bake in a moderate oven (375F) for 20 minutes. Serve hot or cold.

Serves 6