Marinated Fishy Things

I love anchovy fillets but sometimes I find the flavour can be a bit flat. My trick to overcome this problem is to marinate them with aromatic herbs and spices. To me, these salty fish morsels are best served on a piece of fresh bread, as a snack. Or before dinner, as an antipasto or hors d'oeuvre.

Marinated Anchovies

Ingredients
150g jar anchovy fillets in oil
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 dried red chili
1 garlic clove, crushed and peeled
Zest of 1 lemon, julienned
Freshly chopped parsley
Extra virgin olive oil (peppery)

Method
Drain the anchovy fillets of their cheap and nasty oil. Using a mortar and pestle, crush the coriander seeds to release their flavour. You should get a waft of a warm and spicy orange scent as you do this. Snip the chili into tiny pieces (I use a pair of scissors). Place your drained anchovy fillets into a container. Sprinkle over the coriander, chili, the whole garlic clove, lemon zest and parsley. Pour over the extra virgin olive oil, to completely submerge. Leave for the flavours to infuse (at least 24 hours). I also remove the garlic, to avoid a strong odour. A squeeze of fresh lemon juice at the last moment would make a welcome addition. Store in the fridge, in a covered container.

40 Cloves?

I was afraid to cook this dish for a long time. The idea of cooking a dish with 40 cloves of garlic sounds rather vulgar. But in reality, it is actually quite nice. When cooked properly, the garlic is gentle and not at all invasive or smelly for that matter. The reason I decided to do this dish was because I was experimenting with spring garlic, which is available right now. This garlic is fantastic. It is moist, plump and extremely tender. The bulbs that I purchased had not developed their papery inner skin, so you can eat each clove whole. The skins just seem to melt away. It has a stronger than usual fragrance, but the flavour is quite mild, once cooked. I really enjoyed this and I will definitely make it again.

Chicken Saute with 40 cloves of Garlic

Ingredients
3 tbsp olive oil
2 kilo chicken drumsticks (organic)
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper
40 cloves garlic, unpeeled (spring garlic if you can get it)
Fresh thyme
125ml stock ( I used fresh vegetable stock. Careful with using fake stock here. The juices are reduced at the end and fake stock may be too salty)
125ml white wine

Method
Heat the oil in a pan large enough to hold the chicken in a single layer. You can also do this in 2 pans simultaneously (adjust the amount of oil)
Add the drumsticks to the pan and brown on one side for 5 minutes.
Turn the pieces over and do the other side. Season the chicken as you do this.
Now turn down the heat to medium and throw in the garlic cloves.
Continue to cook for another 10 minutes, turning the chicken over and shaking the pan, so everything cooks evenly.
Add the thyme, stock and wine. Turn the heat to low, cover the pan (or pans) and cook for another 15 minutes
Remove the chicken and garlic to a serving dish, reduce the juices in the pan and pour over.

Serves 4 people. I served this with a Russian salad, tossed with a mustard vinaigrette rather than the usual mayonnaise. The combination worked really well.

Spagetti with Clams, Garlic Butter & Zucchini

There is one food that I am a total snob and completely fussy about and that is pasta. I must admit that I never order pasta when I eat out because past experiences have almost always been bad. There have been few exceptions to this, (mainly fine Italian restaurants) but these have been few over the years. These days I prefer to cook and eat pasta at home, where I am in control and I can cook it the way I like it.

These are a few points which I think are crucial to creating a good dish:

1. Pasta has to be cooked right. Soft pasta is revolting. It reminds me of food you would serve to an old man with no teeth. The whole point of pasta is the texture. Most cooking times on the packet are too long but not always. I find that taking about 2 minutes of the time specified works about right. But always check- the pasta should be firm, but not chalky to the bite. I can tell if pasta is overcooked just by looking at it. Try it this way. If you think its not cooked enough, your palate will adjust over time and you will realize that pasta isn’t simply a bland carrier for a meat sauce. Al dente pasta (firm pasta) will shine with the simplest of sauces because you haven’t robbed it of its texture.
   
2. As soon as the pasta is ready, drain it immediately. You need to work fast. Pasta keeps cooking as you dress it and if you are slow doing this the pasta will be overcooked by the time you get it to the table. Which is another good reason to cook it a bit firmer than most people are used to. When you drain the pasta in a colander, give it a few firm shakes leaving it a bit moist. If you drain it too dry, the pasta will absorb too much sauce. Put the pasta back into the saucepan you used to cook it and drizzle immediately with olive oil. Tossing it in olive oil will prevent the pasta from sticking together. It will glisten and remain separate, rather than a glutinous mass on the plate. Give it a good toss and then add the sauce. Sometimes it is better to add the pasta to the sauce (i.e aglio olio, vongole etc.)
   
3. Please don’t over sauce the pasta. Toss the pasta with just enough sauce to cling to it. It shouldn’t be swimming in sauce and there should be more pasta than sauce. As I serve the pasta I like to top each dish with a spoonful of sauce. Check for salt before serving, as under seasoned pasta is vile.
   
4. And a final point- Parmesan cheese doesn’t go with all pasta dishes. I don’t like it with oily sauces (it interrupt the slipperiness) or sauces where chilli is a prominent flavour (Parmesan cheese and chilli clash. Pecorino may be a better option here).
   
   

Ingredients
200 g long thin pasta (spaghetti, linguine etc)
100g tiniest zucchini you can find (mine where 5cm long)
1 garlic clove, crushed but whole
2 parsley sprigs
Vegetable oil for deep frying
300g clams
40g butter
40ml extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped (extra)
Lots of coarsely chopped parsley
Salt
Fresh white pepper

Method
Heat the vegetable oil in a small saucepan with the whole garlic clove and the parsley sprigs. Do this over a medium heat, rather than a high heat. That way the oil heats evenly. You don’t need a huge quantity of oil. The amount of zucchini is small, so as long as they are submerged it will be fine.
When the oil is hot, discard the garlic and parsley and add the whole zucchini (including the flowers, if they are still attached).
Fry until golden brown. This will only take a few minutes. Drain them on a paper towel and set them aside.
Bring a large pot of water to the boil.
While the water is heating, very gently cook the chopped garlic in the butter and olive oil. Watch the garlic doesn’t burn.
When the water has boiled, salt it well and add your pasta. Cook it as described above.
Now turn the heat up a bit in the pan with the garlic, add your clams and cover. The clams are ready as soon as they open. This will take only a few minutes.
Turn the heat off. If you have timed this right the clams should be ready waiting for the pasta.
Add the drained pasta and the zucchini to the pan and toss it all about. Check the seasoning and add plenty of parsley. Serves 2. And please, no cheese here.