Welcome back to Flavour Nuggets! Are we all hanging in there through the interminable January gloom? This week, I have the answer to all your problems: Small! Tinned! Fish!
Quick word of warning: this isn’t one of those recipes that would ever be prefaced by: ‘You won’t notice the anchovies are there’ or ‘They’ll just add a savoury note’. The anchovies are the main flavour. You are going to KNOW. The dressing has heft. She clings. It’s an umami-dense fish paste shocked through with lemon and the boisterous bark of cracked black pepper. Winter is not the time for a delicate salad dressing my friends; bring out the wolves! So, fish lovers, rejoice. This one is for you. I’ve written before about why the anchovy is so densely packed with tongue-jolting flavour, and today we embrace its intensity. Speaking of which… Allow me, for a moment, to open a window into the life of this chaotic sea creature: a tiny flickering fish of exceptional speed, a single anchovy is part of a vast, shimmering shoal, zooming through the ocean with its mouth constantly open. It gapes like a whale, feeding indiscriminately on whatever washes in. A seriously intense life for a potent (and probably quite annoying) fish - the aquatic equivalent of a mouthbreather on an e-scooter. From Roman garum, colatura de alici and Southeast Asian fish sauces to the current influencer obsession with tinned fish, the popularity of the anchovy has endured. Why? Because it’s unmatched. In seasoning power; in its melting ability and in sheer, balls-to-the-wall gutsiness. In life, the anchovy finds strength in numbers. On the plate, a little goes a very long way. Other ways to use the dressing:
Radicchio and egg salad with anchovy dressing 1 small head radicchio (or 2 heads chicory) Anchovy dressing Preheat the oven to 160°C fan. Peel away the outer papery layers of the garlic bulb but leave the bulb intact. Place onto a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for 25-30 minutes, or until the cloves are soft. Meanwhile, separate the radicchio or chicory leaves and place them in a bowl of very cold or iced water along with the celery slices. Bring a pan of water to the boil. Gently lower the eggs in and cook for 4-6 minutes (4 minutes will get you a still quite runny egg, while 6 minutes will be slightly fudgy in the centre), then place the eggs into another bowl of cold water. Combine the anchovies (reserving the oil for the breadcrumbs) and roasted garlic cloves in a small blender and slowly drizzle in the olive oil until it comes together into a dressing. You can also do this in a bowl with a hand whisk. Add the lemon juice and black pepper. Taste the dressing and add more lemon juice if needed - it should be bright and zingy. Heat the oil from the anchovy tin in a small frying pan and once hot, add the breadcrumbs. Fry, tossing regularly, until golden. Drain on kitchen paper. Dry off the leaves and celery and combine them in a bowl. Add the anchovy dressing and toss to combine, then arrange on a serving platter. Peel the eggs and halve them, then add them to the platter. Top with the breadcrumbs, Parmesan shavings and the chives. Serve immediately.
Until next time, Flavour Fans x
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Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Flavour nugget #12: an anchovy dressing for winter salads
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