I love the connection between seemingly different objects. The humourist Craig Brown, when writing recently about uses of the apostrophe (!) drew a comparison with the anchovy. He alluded to a physical resemblance, then noted that the two were both more deserving than their reputations. This put me in mind of the food writer, asked to write about capers, who thought at first that all her recipes would have been better without her subject matter, yet on relection saw their point. No store cupboard should be without a tin or jar of anchovies.
Since anchovies are extremely perishable, they are very rarely sold fresh, so anchovies are usually bottled or canned in brine, oil or salt, or sold in the form of pastes, butters and essences. In ancient times, the anchovy was a main ingredient in a sauce called garum, a fish sauce not unlike those used today in Asian cooking, especially the Vietnamese ‘fish water’ known as nuoc-mam.
Garum was made by heavily salting anchovies and other fish such as mackerel along with the entrails of a larger fish like tuna. Shellfish were added, then the mixture was left in the sun for 2-3 months in order to produce a dark liquid that was strained and stored in small bottles. We may shudder at the thought of this, yet it is not so different to some of the sauces we use today.
Anchovies are normally found in abundance in warm waters but they can survive in colder waters such as the Atlantic and the Black Sea. They are very popular in Mediterranean countries, but it is the Turks who have embraced them with the most enthusiasm. In Turkey they are called hamsi and so intense are the feelings aroused by the fish that this has resulted in a number of poems in praise of them recited by the troubadours on the Black Sea coast. Off the coast of Peru and adjoining countries the catch of shoals of anchovies have often been the biggest by weight caught in the world. In Europe, where the anchovy has long been popular, the best preserved anchovies are said to come from Collioure, in Southern France.
Anchovies are a key ingredient in many regional Mediterranean dishes such as pissaladiere, bagna cauda, salade nicoise, tapenade and anchoiade. They make a wonderful addition to the old favourite cheese on toast; one of the most popular dishes in a well-known London restaurant is anchovy toasts served with a cheese custard. They go well, too, with a number of vegetable dishes, the better known being cauliflower, peppers and beans. Anchovies and anchovy essence can also be used to great advantage to enhance meat dishes. Few people eating a Melton Mowbray pork could guess that they may have been seasoned with anchovy essence. A few drops of this too can improve a beef stew or try laying a few anchovy fillets over a leg of lamb before roasting. A small tin of anchovy fillets can turn a good dish into a great one. Two of the recipes below feature anchovies with potatoes (a perfect partnership) in honour of the Potato.
WARM POTATO SALAD WITH ANCHOVIES AND BACON
700g/1 ½ lb small new potatoes
4 rashers streaky bacon, cut into little strips
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon French mustard
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 fillets anchovies, cut into little strips
Chopped chives
Put the potatoes on to boil or steam and meanwhile fry the bacon until crisp. Take off the heat.
Combine the olive oil, vinegar and mustard and season with salt and pepper. Put the cooked potatoes back into the pan with the bacon pieces, add the anchovies and the dressing and over a gentle heat move the ingredients around the pan to warm through. Add the chopped chives and serve.
JANSSON’S TEMPTATION
My favourite potato dish. Various myths surround its name but the one I like is that Eric Janson, a Swedish religious reformer who founded Bishop Hill, Illinois, in 1846, preached religious asceticism to his followers and forbade enjoyment but abandoned this when he encountered potatoes cooked in this way. Do not be tempted to substitute milk for the cream. It renders the dish pointless.
700g/1 ½ lb potatoes, peeled and finely sliced
2 large onions, peeled and finely sliced
2 tins anchovy fillets
400ml/15 fl oz cream
Freshly ground black pepper
A little butter
Take a wide gratin dish and some foil. Layer the potatoes and onions with the anchovies in the dish, peppering as you go. Finish with potatoes on the top. Pour over half the cream and a little of the anchovy oil. Dot with a little butter and cover with foil. Cook in a hot oven, Gas Mark 7/425F/220C
for about 20 minutes, pour in the rest of the cream and turn down the heat to about Gas Mark 3/325F/170C.
The potatoes will take about another hour to cook. Remove the foil for the last 10 minutes.
GREEN BEANS WITH ANCHOVY DRESSING
450g/1 lb green French, runner or pole beans
2 eggs, hard-boiled and roughly sliced
3 tomatoes, skinned and sliced
Freshly chopped parsley
Dressing:
3 anchovy fillets
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons olive oil
Prepare the beans, removing any coarse ends. Simmer for 5 minutes or so in salted water until just tender and then drain. While the beans are cooking, make the dressing by pounding the anchovy fillets with the garlic and white wine vinegar. Add the pepper and beat in the olive oil, a little at a time. Taste and season. Toss the hot beans in the dressing and leave to cool. When ready to serve, drain the dressing from the beans and arrange the beans on a large plate with the eggs and the tomatoes. Dribble the drained dressing over the eggs and tomatoes and sprinkle over the chopped parsley. Serve at room temperature.
