- 1 pound fresh salmon, cut into ½-inch cubes
- 1 large handful wild or domestic fennel leaves
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 long sprig fresh rosemary
- 1 pound sedanini (see Note)
- 1 cup toasted breadcrumbs mixed with a pinch of cayenne pepper
- Put the salmon, fennel, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a bowl and let it sit at room temperature for about 2 hours to marinate.
- Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and rosemary and sauté for a minute or two until you smell the garlic. Lift the salmon out of the marinade with your hands and place it in the frying pan. Sauté the fish for 1 or 2 minutes, until it is opaque. (The lemon juice “cooked” the salmon, so you are just heating it to give it the flavor of the oil and a little color.) Add salt and pepper to taste.
- In the meantime, bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Stir in a small fistful of salt and the sedanini. Cook the pasta, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t stick together, until it is tender. Reserve a cupful of the pasta water. Drain the pasta quickly through a colander and add it to the frying pan with the salmon. Add a splash of pasta water and sauté the pasta with the salmon condimento for 2 minutes on high heat. Transfer the pasta to a serving dish, sprinkle with the toasted breadcrumbs, and serve very hot with more breadcrumbs on the table.