Pasta con Sarde

Pasta con Sarde e Finocchio, a Sicilian delicacy, is the most delectable pasta that can possibly be made on this side of heaven. How fortunate that my mother, who was born in Sicily and was a cook without a peer, taught my wife how to prepare it. We hope we can induce you readers to try it.

Of Arabic origin, Pasta con Sarde e Finocchio is in fact indigenous only to the Western side of Sicily. In America, hardly anyone knows about it and it isn't featured in any traditional Italian restaurants. So, if you wish to savor this exquisite dish before you have it in heaven, you will have to make it yourself. With luck, you will find the canned "condimento" import in your local Italian deli. It comes in a flat yellow can and the most authentic brand is made by Pensabene.

Allow the contents of the can to simmer for several minutes. It is a green sauce, made with fennel leaves, onion, garlic, small pieces of sardines, salt, pepper, currants, pine nuts and olive oil. Then gently layer it over freshly boiled linguini. As the aromatic vapors rise from the dish, lightly dust the pasta with toasted, herbed bread crumbs. Buon appetito!

If we owe the Mafia nothing else, we are deeply in their debt for their having zealously preserved this Arabian legacy. Now, if Osama has never had it and we can get him to try it, I am sure he would emerge ecstatically from his cave, salaam deeply and promptly call off this jihad.