My favorite pasta for this recipe is bucatini, but you can also use thick cut spaghetti. If you are not familiar with bucatini, let me give you the lowdown. This pasta might look like spaghetti, but there’s one big difference: Bucatini is hollow in the center. In fact, the word “buca” means hollow in Italian. The unique nature of this pasta makes it perfect for sauce to rest in the hollowed-out noodles.

Because this holiday takes place during Lent, recipes traditionally do not include any meat. In fact, true St. Joseph’s Day recipes do not include any cheese, since milk products were so scarce during the drought. We may be a true Italian family, but I venture a little bit from tradition because this bucatini pasta recipe is sooo much more delicious with cheese!

Sardines are a traditional fish used in Sicilian dishes. Here’s a fun fact: Breadcrumbs in St. Joseph’s Day recipes represent sawdust since St. Joseph was a carpenter. Every ingredient in this dish has a special symbolic meaning… except for maybe my cheese. Well, it’s special to me! I also veer from tradition a little bit in my St. Joseph’s Day soup recipe—check it out to find out how!

If you don’t care for sardines, you can substitute them with more anchovies, but I think sardines are wonderful in this recipe. They add savory flavor, a little salt, and a lot of Sicilian tradition.