Tag: anchovies
Potato Salad with Anchovies and Olives
- 5 to 6 red skinned potatoes, boiled and cut into ½ inch slices
Dressing
- 3 to 4 anchovies
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 medium red onion, chopped
- ¾ cup kalamata olives, sliced
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- ¾ cup parsley, chopped
- 2 to 3 teaspoons salt
Heat a large non-stick frying pan with the olive oil. Add the anchovies and melt on a medium heat. Add the garlic and onions and sauté on medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes. Turn the heat off and add the olives and vinegar. Add the warm dressing to the hot potato slices. Mix well and check for seasonings. Add the salt and parsley. Can be made several hours ahead of time. Serve room temperature.
Pan Seared Scallops with Salsa Verde
This is a fantastic recipe to entertain with. I made it through the week as my daughter was complaining about missing scallops. I simply seared the scallops in a non-stick pan till golden brown. I also made a delicious sauce with basil, pistachios and capers. The sauce can be used with other meats as well as pasta…
Salsa Verde
- 1 cup fresh basil, leaves only
- ½ cup fresh mint, leaves only
- 1 garlic clove, smashed
- ¼ cup pistachios, toasted
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon capers, drained and rinsed
- 2 anchovies
- Zest of one lemon
- Juice of half a lemon
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Process all the ingredients together in a food processor. Transfer to a bowl, cover and let sit for an hour or two before serving.
- 1 to 2 pounds scallops, cleaned
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
Heat some oil to a frying pan on medium high heat. Sear the scallops on high heat for a couple minutes on each side- careful not to over cook. Serve the scallops with the salsa verde and sautéed green beans.
Penne with Shrimp and Asparagus in a Creamy Garlic Sauce
As I have mentioned before on this blog, everyone in my family loves shrimp. To save money, I buy frozen shrimp from either Trader Joes or Whole Foods– I do try to make sure it’s American shrimp. It makes me feel better knowing the shrimp haven’t travelled very far to get to my table. I always have at least one bag of frozen shrimp at hand- very helpful on a busy day.
I had a lovely bunch of asparagus in the fridge and I thought of pairing it with the shrimp. I was flipping through the ten thousand food magazines at home and came up with anchovies. Now, before you start gagging- anchovies are delicious when used in sauces and dressings. Most people who think they don’t like the fishy taste don’t realize that the ‘fishiness’ goes away as soon as the anchovies dissolve or melt and what comes through is this a very complex nutty, salty flavor equal to nothing else out there.
When I am thinking of a recipe, I visualize it in my mind- step by step. In this case, I was planning on making a white wine and cheese sauce with an anchovy base. I was planning on adding the asparagus and then the shrimp and finally the penne.
I cooked the sauce- quite easy, didn’t take very long at all. I then added the trimmed asparagus to the pan. I looked at the frying pan and realized the asparagus, shrimp and penne were not going to look very appealing all mixed in together. So I quickly took the asparagus out and sauteed it separately in a pan and decided to add it on top instead. That worked out a lot better- it looked fabulous. We eat with our eyes first and the thought of serving an unappetizing meal was not very exciting.
The meal tasted great and it looked good as well- very important. I served the pasta with garlic bread and some red wine- good stuff all around!
Rosemary Roasted Chicken on top of Ciabatta Bread served with a Warm Chickpea and Spinach Salad
Once again, I got my inspiration from my favorite good looking chef, Jamie Oliver. I was watching his show about salads and he made a fabulous caesar salad with homemade roasted chicken and croutons. The chicken legs attached to thighs were roasted with rosemary, olive oil, salt and pepper. He tore a baguette into pieces and added them with the chicken and roasted the whole thing. His idea was to flavor the bread pieces with the chicken juices and use them as croutons in the salad- how brilliant it that? I decided to make a similar dish but used a ciabatta bread- sliced it and placed it at the bottom of the roast pan. I then placed the chicken pieces and rubbed a mixture of rosemary, salt, olive oil and pepper. I wanted to serve the chicken and bread as the main dish. I loved the idea of using full chicken legs- they are so much more flavorful than chicken breast; they are more forgiving in terms of cooking time; and most of all, they are a lot more reasonable than chicken breast. I am a big fan of dark meat chicken- my husband on the other hand, is a big skeptic. He enjoyed this dish but I could tell, he would have preferred white meat chicken. If you feel the same, go ahead and switch it for the breast pieces- I would get the bone-in pieces and would keep a good eye on the oven careful not to over cook. The roasted chicken pieces were juicy, flavorful and tender. The bread was amazingly delicious. We spread the sweet, soft, gooey roasted garlic cloves on top of the bread slices- it was out of this world. It had absorbed all the chicken goodness. We ate it with a warm chickpea salad and yes- my favorite- Malbec Rose.
I was itching to use anchovies in something. My husband thinks he doesn’t like them, but like a lot of people, he doesn’t realize that anchovies take on a very nutty and salty flavor when used in either a salad or a sauce. It adds an underlying flavor to the dish that is quite complex and hard to decipher. I decided to make a chickpea salad. I had a bag of baby spinach sitting in my fridge screaming to be used, so I paired it with the chickpeas. I sliced some shallots and melted 2 anchovy fillets with olive oil. I then added the canned chickpeas and baby spinach. Somehow using raw cumin didn’t seem right- I used roasted cumin instead. I always have it in my spice cabinet. It’s as simple as roasting nuts- either in a heavy frying pan or in the oven, till it is aromatic and dark brown. The roasted cumin has a very aromatic flavor- milder than raw cumin- almost more sophisticated. Well, all the flavors went really well together- it was a successful try and I will definitely make it again!