little buddies
Anchovies are wildly misunderstood. Something about tinned fish makes a large percentage of people get squirmy. And I understand! Sometimes I’m still one of them. But the more I cook Alison’s way, the more I can attest to the distinctly salty power of an anchovy. Anchovies elevate. They transform tomato sauce, chicken, lamb, white beans, and yes, potato chips!
At the beginning of this project, I put this recipe into the not-looking-forward-to-it category. But it’s slowly migrated to the alright-yea-alison-knows-what-she’s-doing category. Not full on literally-drooling-can’t-wait category, but getting there. Which is why I made about a fourth of the recipe portion – I wasn’t sure how this would be received.
I opened a tin of anchovies and reserved a few for this appetizer (the others went to the Tomato Dressed in Toasted Fennel and Anchovy recipe – post forthcoming). I covered the little guys in distilled white vinegar and very thinly sliced serrano pepper. The recipe calls for calabrian chiles, but I could not find that pepper variety for the life of me. The anchovies marinated for about an hour before Jordan and my in-laws all dared to try one with me.
The serrano peppers packed quite the heat, but boy was it an exciting bite. I served the fish with toothpicks and TJ’s potato chips. If it weren’t for this project, I’d never have tried something like it. But once again, I’m so glad I did.
85 recipes cooked, 140 to go.
