December 7, 2013

Caramelized Fennel, Celery, and Sardine Pasta

Caramelized Fennel, Celery, and Sardine Pasta
Caramelized Fennel, Celery, and Sardine Pasta



Growing up I never wanted kids. I wasn't one of those girls that loved baby dolls and wanted to be a mommy. I wasn't even planning on getting married. I told anyone that would listen that I was going to  get a degree and live by myself in a great apartment. Everyone always laughed at how planned out I had everything. A lot of it had to do with my mother being the oldest of 12 kids. My grandmother had passed away before I was born and my mother had taken over the role of a second mother for my aunts and uncles. Growing up I was surrounded by cousins and since I was an older than most of them I had to watch a lot of my younger cousins. I loved my cousins, but they could get into a lot of trouble and me along with them. Plus my mother was always on the phone, visiting or generally interacting with family members. It was hard not to be a little jealous that I wasn't the center of attention, especially since I was an only child.

I met my husband in grad school. I had moved 2500 miles away from home and knew no one. He was one of the first people to be nice to me in my very first evening class. Gradually we became friends, he drove me home from work study, we ate dinner together in the school cafeteria in-between classes. We moved in with each other a month after officially dating and were married 5 months later. The girl that was never going to get married walked down the aisle before most of her friends. On our second anniversary I found out I was pregnant with our first child. I had my second 2 1/2 years later. I still went to graduate school, worked a great job in bio-tech for 7 years, I just achieved everything much younger than I thought I would. I have two smart, beautiful and talented boys. I never thought that I wanted to be a mother, but now that I am I can't imagine my life anything other way. They complete the love that my husband and I formed so quickly more than 10 years ago.

While my family will eat gluten free pasta, they prefer the real thing if given the choice. Every couple of weeks I make a pasta meal for them to enjoy using regular wheat pasta. A while back I tried a new recipe for Caramelized Fennel, Celery, and Sardine Pasta from Martha Stewart Living magazine.
Caramelized Fennel, Celery, and Sardine Pasta
Caramelized Fennel, Celery, and Sardine Pasta

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 25 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I only made a few changes to the original recipe. First, my family doesn't like whole wheat pasta. I have tried every brand, half whole wheat etc. and they hate them all. So instead I used regular pasta, it wasn't worth the battle. Make sure to salt the pasta water, if you don't the pasta will need a lot more salt after cooking. The only other change that I made was to add more pasta cooking water than the recipe suggested. I found it necessary to make sure that the pasta was well coated and the flavors combined.
Lake Vesuvius
Lake Vesuvius 

My husband really enjoyed this recipe. He is a huge fennel fan and this was a nice way to use it in a  pasta recipe. My two kids were skeptical when they say the sardines, they were hesitant to eat the bones. After trying the dish though they loved the fennel and sardines. The recipe is definitely geared towards adults, but if you have adventurous kids like mine it would also make a nice family meal. Plus since it takes less than 30 minutes it would be great for a busy weeknight.

For the recipe go to Caramelized Fennel, Celery, and Sardine Pasta.

12 comments:

  1. You sound so very much like me. I remember growing up I swore I was never going to have any kids at all. Look at me now! I can't imagine my life without them either. Well I can imagine it but it won't be the same. :)

    I'm a big lover of sardines but I've never thought of it in a pasta before. That sounds yummy. We usually buy the hot ones which the kids love. I buy the ones in just oil for myself. I'll have to give this a try definitely. :)

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    1. The sardines are really nice the pasta, since they add a salty flavor. My kids love sardines and will eat them in any recipe that I make :)

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  2. It's funny because for years I didn't want kids. I didn't even get the baby bug until I was 28 and then when I wanted one - I wanted one. Now I have two.

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    1. I didn't have the baby bug until I was 26 and then it was the same way for me :)

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  3. Oh this look good. Another pasta dish for my family to try. Although I married the love of life, I am apprehensive as to my mothering skills. But i am doing my best, to say the least. Nevertheless, I cant imagine life without hubby and my kid,too.

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    1. I think all mothers worry about their mothering skills when they have kids, it's normal :) I still worry that I'm doing things wrong!

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  4. Isn't it funny? I didn't particular want kids either. I'm the eldest of four and I had a lot of responsibility when I was growing up. I met my husband when I was 20 years old and within days, I knew we'd be together and I thought about babies all the time. :) It was almost seven years before we had our first child but it all changed in heartbeat.

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    1. I had a lot of responsibility too, I think that's part of the reason I thought that I didn't want kids of my own. My husband and I knew quickly too, I think when you find the right person sometimes it just clicks :)

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  5. What a lovely story about you and your family, and the ideals you had growing up. I was brought up with the expectation that you just had kids ... and even though I didn't really want to at the time, I had this feeling inside that I just should before I got too old!! So I did ... and I love it. Love the look of your pasta too ... I'm not into fennel, but I think this looks really nice. Cheers, Alison

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    1. The fennel doesn't have a very strong taste since it's caramelized. It's pretty mellow.

      I was lucky that since I was the first person in my family to go to college that my parents pushed education more than anything and let me make my own decisions on the rest. They were great about letting me be independent and in the end I decided to have kids :)

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  6. I agree about whole wheat pasta...not for me either. I like yours, I'm a big fan of sauceless pasta dishes and white pasta dishes (w/o tomato sauce). And that caramelized fennel sounds amazing :) ela

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    1. Whole wheat pasta is just too gritty for my family. I agree about sauceless pasta, some of the best recipes don't have tomatoes.

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