Erica De Mane

Recipe: Bucatini with Swordfish, Raisins, Pine Nuts, and Sweet Breadcrumbs

I have a habit of seeking out and falling in love with dishes that include raisins and pine nuts, dishes from Spain, from Provence, and from Sicily. Historians pretty much agree that this culinary pairing was invented by Arabs and transported to places they invaded, letting this sweet and savory duo mingle with the established cuisine of the invaded, often with fabulous results. Sicily’s famous pasta con le sarde comes to mind, but many of Sicily’s pasta dishes can include this combination, such as pasta with anchovies, or cauliflower, or tuna, or eggplant.

It’s not that pine nuts and raisins didn’t both already exist in Sicily in the 800s, when the Arabs first landed, but I guess it took the Arab cooks, so familiar with mixing fruits and nuts, to use them in new, Sicilian-influenced ways. Sicilian cooking has a lot of sweet in it, one of the culinary features that makes it stand out from the food of the rest of Southern Italy.

Here’s my take on a Arabo-Sicula pasta dish. It of course contains raisins and pine nuts, but I’ve also added fennel, lots of soft onion, anchovies, and lightly sweetened, toasted breadcrumbs to sprinkle on top, a feature very typical of many Sicilian fish and vegetable based pastas, and one that I find completely alluring.

Bucatini with Swordfish, Raisins, Pine Nuts, and Sweet Breadcrumbs

(Serves 2)

Extra-irgin olive oil
½ cup dry homemade breadcrumbs
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
A big pinch of sugar
1 teaspoon ground fennel seed
⅓ cup golden raisins
Enough dry Marsala to cover the raisins
1 large, sweet onion, cut into small dice
6 anchovy fillets, roughly chopped
½ pound bucatini
½ pound swordfish, skinned and cut into little cubes
The feathery tops from 1 fennel bulb, chopped
A few large dill sprigs, chopped
⅓ cup pine nuts, toasted

In a small skillet, heat a tablespoon of olive oil over medium flame. Add the breadcrumbs, seasoning them with salt, black pepper, the sugar, and half of the ground fennel. When they just begin to turn golden, after about a minute or so, pull them from the heat, and put them in a small bowl.

Set up a large pot of pasta cooking water, and bring it to a boil. Add a generous amount of salt.

Soak the raisins in dry Marsala, just to cover.

In a large skillet, heat about ¼ cup olive oil over medium flame. Add the onions, and let them sauté until softened, about 3 minutes. Now add the anchovies, stirring them around until they melt into the onions. Add the raisins with their Marsala soaking liquid, and let bubble a minute.

Start cooking the bucatini.

Add a little pasta cooking water to the skillet, and let the onions simmer until very soft, about another minute or so. Season very lightly with salt and more aggressively with black pepper.

Toss the swordfish cubes with the remaining ground fennel and a little salt and pepper. Add them to the skillet, and cook gently just until tender, about a minute or so. Turn off the heat, and add half of the chopped fennel tops, half of the dill, and the pine nuts.

When the bucatini is al dente, drain it, saving about a half cup of the cooking water, and place the pasta in a large serving bowl. Toss with a little fresh olive oil. Now pour on the swordfish sauce, and give it a toss, adding a little of the cooking water if needed for moisture. Top with the remaining fennel tops and dill. Serve hot or warm, topping each bowl with a generous amount of the breadcrumbs.