I wanted to add a fish dinner recipe inspired by a similar one found in cookbook written by James Beard:

FISH PASTA DELUXE!

1 fennel bulb
1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium onion
14.5 oz. can chopped tomatoes with zesty green chile's added (Del Monte)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup pignoli
1/4 teaspoon saffron
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 can anchovy fillets (drained and chopped)
1 lb. fish fillets cut into 1/2" strips
1/2 lb. pasta, preferably large pieces of a colorful type (spirals would be OK at a minimum)
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut off and discard the fennel top and cut the bulb into thin lengthwise slices. Cook these in a big pot of boiling water until they are tender, about 5 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to skim them out, set them aside. Leave the water at a simmer for when you'll cook the pasta.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and saute the onion until it is soft. Add the tomatoes, raisins, pignoli, saffron, basil, and anchovies. Cook this for 10 minutes.

Cook the pasta in the fennel infused water brought back to a boil.

Choose a time to cook the fish in the tomato sauce mixture so that the fish and pasta will be done pretty much at the same time (perhaps with 5 minutes cooking time left for the pasta). Don't forget to stir the tomato/fish sauce a couple of times along with an occasional stir of the cooking pasta! Just before the pasta is finished add the sliced fennel back into the pasta pot in order that it too will be reheated.

Drain the pasta, add pepper to taste and salt if desired. A splash of olive oil into the drained pasta helps too! Everything should be ready to serve.

NOTES OF INTEREST

This has been a very successful dish two out of the four times we've tried it. The other two times it has been okay though a bit dull. This implies careful selection of ingredients and I will try to further ascertain the exact brands to use.

Saffron can be bought over the internet and it's kind of a fun low risk purchase at about $4.00 per gram plus $3 shipping. Hey! It is the world's most expensive spice and a little bit goes a long ways!