Salty Goodness

"Anchovies, anchovies,
You're so delicious.
I like you better than
All the other fishes."

In "Conversations with Dead People", a 7th season episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", Buffy's sister Dawn declared her anchovy love to her pizza, just prior to the appearance of the First (Evil) in the guise of her (dead) mother, and the subsequent near total destruction of her home by demonic forces.* In a dvd commentary, writer Jane Espenson revealed that she included Dawn's poem in protest, because a certain pizza chain had recently removed the anchovy topping choice from its delivery menu.

No question that anchovies are the subject of some Very Strong Feelings, all around. Even prior to becoming a vegetarian, my daughter despised them so thoroughly that she could not bear it if her father and I ordered anchovies on our portion of the family take out pizza. The very whiff of the nearby anchovies poisoned her portion and her entire evening, and she absolutely could tell , even when we thought we had concealed each and every tiny fish. I live way the other side of the Great Anchovy Divide, and enjoy anchovies presented frankly, on a pizza, or elsewhere-including that one-time rage, "Jansson's Temptation."

A Scandanavian dish, popular in the sixties, when Danish Modern was the hottest of design trends, Jansson's Tempatation was a bit of fad too. It was made with sliced potatoes, which were baked slowly, melding with plenty of anchovies and cream- actually delicious, and much more subtle than you would think, though the anchovy presence was not a secret. A friend of my parents made it for dinner parties, and I was always hoping the children would be invited.

Since that time, I have learned a technique for cooking vegetables with an anchovy or two, where the presence of the anchovies, as such, is pretty well undetectable. You have probably come across this business before. It works brillantly with lots of vegetables, and is particularly yummy with green beans and cherry tomatoes, cooked together. You heat a bit of olive oil and some garlic, and mash in a couple of anchovies. When the anchovies are melted, you gently cook the veggies (parboiled for the green beans, but not for the tomatoes) in the oil until they are done as you like. I have served this to professed anchovy-haters, and they mostly scarf it up. (Naturally, I cannot serve it to vegetarian anchovy haters, because, as I have been informed on any number of occasions by close relatives, "A fish is not a vegetable.") If you are anti-anchovy, but given to challenging yourself-give this a try.

Less subtle, but still not overwhelming, is the pasta recipe below. I love this stuff. It is a typically simple, yet punchy Jamie Oliver recipe, though I rather think it is a traditional dish, as opposed to an invention..To make it you need only have ordinary pantry staples on hand, or, at least, my kind of on-hand cupboard stuff. You need:

Panagretto (see below)
1 1/4 lbs dried spaghetti
10 anchovies
a small red chili (dried) pounded (or aleppo pepper flakes or the like are okay, too)
clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
salt and pepper

panagretto
6 Tbsps olive oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled
small handful fresh thyme leaves-stems removed-or tsp of dried thyme
4 oz bread crumbs, fine
half a lemon

Put a big pasta pan of water on to boil. In a heavy pan, add most of the olive oil and the garlic, and heat,then add thyme and bread crumbs. As they begin to fry and toast, stir them. Keep on until they are crisply toasted, then scoop them out onto some wadded paper towels. Spread them out, remove the garlic, blot off the excess oil, and salt and pepper them.

When the pasta water is boiling, salt it, and add the spaghetti. Heat the oil and chopped garlic in the same pan you used for the breadcrumbs.Lay the anchovies over the garlic, and mash them with the back of a wooden spoon. When they are melty, add the red pepper and squeeze in the lemon juice. (Watch out, the lemon juice will sputter, jump back.) When the spaghetti is done, drain it and pour the pasta into the anchovy pan. Turn it over and over with some tongs , coating all the spaghetti thoroughly. Serve right away, in wide bowls, sprinkling each serving with plently of the toasty breadcrumbs. this much serves four for supper, with a salad.

Don't put grated parm on it- it would fight with the anchovies, and ruin your fun.

*In the same episode, Dawn tried an interesting culinary experiment, involving microwaving a marshmallow, which puffed up dramatically (see screen capture). Later, the microwave exploded-but it wasn't because of the marshmallow.The marshmallow thing does work, BTW. Don't ask. The geekiness is in honor of the recent 10th anniversary of Btvs, soon to be seen in a different sort of Season 8, coming to a comics shop near you.

Comments

[Tanna]

What an interesting technique panagretto!
One night at dinner, our youngest then in the eight grade announced he was going to be a vegetarian. Two days later he came home from school and told me chicken is not a vegetable! He's 33 today and still vegetarian.

[Sucar]

I love it-anchovies and BTVS (the best TV series of all time) all in the same post. Thanks! I'm also intrigued by your pasta recipe and might give it a try but I'd love a recipe for Jansson's Temptation.

[Baking Soda]

Oh boy, anchovies? I don't know...afraid I'm on the wrong side of the divide right along with your daughter.

[Heath]

One of my favorite pantry pastas includes anchovies! (It's what I call "Strong Flavor Pasta" - you'll see why in a minute.)

Saute onion and LOTS of smashed garlic in olive oil; add anchovies (several) and melt in. Throw in a bunch of capers and some sundried tomatoes in oil and a bunch of chopped strong black olives, then add a drained can of tuna and a healthy splash of white wine (the wine takes away the canned tuna-ness.) Cook till the wine mostly cooks away, then toss in spaghetti noodles and eat. Make sure to put a big glass of water by your bed after having this for dinner - salt, salt, and more salt. Very yummy. (Also very yummy with much parm and red pepper flakes.)

I always have the stuff to make this on hand and it's really MUCH better than it sounds.

[anapestic]

The lesson I took away from Dawn's experience was that eating anchovies is sure to be followed by disaster. Which seems entirely unfair because, really, if you've eaten anchovies on your pizza, you've suffered enough.

I find anchovies to be an essential element of my puttanesca sauce, where they are, fortunately, invisible. Almost any time I see them in a recognizable form, I think I would be happier seeing some black olives in the same place.

[Luisa]

Oh man, if Ben didn't hate them so, I'd eat this pasta three days a week. It is so fantastic. I'd say the best part, almost, are the breadcrumbs. Mmmm, crispy breadcrumbs...

[Melissa]

You know, I remember thinking how ever so slightly out of character that seemed, the fact that Dawn loved anchovies. I mean, I imagine that there must be a few teenage (American) girls who like them, but she never struck me as being the type that would (the anchovy-loving type being passionate, adventurous eaters, at least in my experience!). Then again, we did see her make a peanut butter and banana quesadilla...

As for myself, I occupy some rare middle ground in the great anchovy divide. I absolutely hate them on pizza, but love them in just about everything else. Including spaghetti - yum!

[ann]

AHA! I was served those potatoes recently and was utterly disgusted by them. It was brunch and they did not list the fish's presence on the menu, and I was shocked and put off completely. Even though I love anchovies, I need to see them coming to enjoy them. That aside, my favorite vegetable to sneak them into is broccoli rabe. Delicious!

And that microwave trick is one of my favorite things in the whole world. It's best with Peeps ;-) After they've puffed up, I take them out and carefully pull them apart into long, thin, fragile threads. SO much fun to eat! Thanks Lindy!

[Kitt]

Everything is connected. I was planning to make the French Laundry anchovy dressing as documented in French Laundry at Home:
http://carolcookskeller.blogspot.com/2007/03/parmigiano-reggiano-custards-with.html

Decided I'd better look up "salt-packed anchovies," as the recipe calls for, and found this post on the best oil-packed anchovies: http://inpraiseofsardines.typepad.com/blogs/2005/11/in_praise_of_sp.html

Then I come here and you're talking about anchovies. So I thought I'd share the links.

I used to think I didn't like anchovies, but anchovy-stuffed olives turned me around. I like your method of using them. It's like fish sauce, which adds so much to Asian dishes, but is kind of squicky if you think about it too much.

[zp]

Frankly, I'm quite shocked that you're a Buffy watcher. Anchovies, naturally. Buffy? That came out of left field.

[lindy]

tanna-Being a vegaphile, I have come to appreciate the benefits of having vegetarian relatives. Sets you at the new and different.
anapestic-But they're pretty! Well, perhaps I'm slightly biased.
sucar-I will oblige with that recipe sometime soon, once everyone has stopped dying of thirst.
Luisa-Yum. Crisp breadcrumbs also good on shrimpy and other fish pastas, I think, where cheese on top is a bit strange.
Melissa-Dunno, I liked them from a kid, but I am abnormal, I guess. I have always been human, however, unlike some.
I do believe that quesadilla wound up in the trash?
ann- I absolutely agree about the warning- very important. But the poofing up of peeps? A tad sinister!
Kitt-Man, that dressing looks wonderful.
zp-Shocked and appalled? They had me from the ritual sacrifice...with pie.

[lindy]

Whoops, missed you, Baking soda. There's no right or wrong here. Just "lucky" and "deprived"! Actually, there's a whole lot of grey area with anchovies-despite all the strong emotions involved-as ann pointed out.

[Bakerina]

I have been dreaming of this spaghetti ever since, oh, about three minutes after you posted it. I finally made it last night, using farro linguine. (There's something about anchovies and really two-fisted whole wheat pasta that I just love.) Not only did I eat a really, really big bowl, but it was all I could do not to pick the leftovers out of the skillet with my fingers. Lindy, this recipe is genius.

[Julie]

I do a simpler variation of this (red pepper, garlic, chopped anchovies, parsley with spaghetti) all the time but yours sounds far better. Sensational even. I think it's the thyme and lemon that makes it sound so appealing.

[almost vegetarian]

Okay, so this is why I don't read food blogs when I am hungry. Now, where did I put those anchovies? Cheers!