Pasta with sardines
Typical Sicilian Dish

Ingredients:

Durum-wheat pasta “maccheroncini” or “bucatini” 320 g

4 Fresh sardines

Salted anchovies 2

Skinned tomatoes 1 400g tin

Onion 100 g

Oil 2 tbsp

Black pepper

Preparation

Heat the oil in a pan and fry the chopped onion.
After a few minutes add the anchovy fillets and mush them by using a fork in order to melt them perfectly.

Then add the sardine fillets (washed and boned either) and fry until browned on both sides.
Cover with drained skinned tomatoes and heat through for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. C

ook the pasta “al dente”, then drain and turn it on to a tureen.
Mix in the sauce and some freshly ground black pepper.

The dish

This dish is characterized by the flavor of fish, sardines in particular, strengthened by that of anchovies. In this case, it is a “primary” flavor, since it prevails over everything else.

The sauce - tomato, onion, oil and pepper - has, on the contrary, a “secondary” flavor.
Just like pasta, it contributes to the structural choice of wine, but not to its taste, since this is a peculiarity of the primary flavor, in this case sardines, characterized by an intense, persistent and aromatic flavor that only a few wines can match.

The wine

The choice of the wine to accompany this dish falls on something important, since it has to compete with the energetic value of the dish (proteins, fats and carbohydrates) and marry with the strong and persistent flavor of sardines.

This is the reason why white wine has been chosen, since the “tannic” (acid and astringent) flavor, typical of red wines, would cover or at least alter the natural flavor of fish.

The ideal wine should be mature, harmonious and fittingly sourish, going wonderfully with the “hot” flavor of salted anchovies, strong-bodied (in order to match the energetic value), fittingly aromatic (in order to compete with the flavor of fish), with a quite high alcoholic content in order to melt the fat of sardines (4,5%), and with a persistent and slightly sourish flavor in order to meet the sour flavor of sardines.

The Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi is perfect since it has all these characteristics and is therefore the best accompaniment to this dish.