True Ligurian-style fried anchovies like ours are whole, floured and cooked with the skin on. A very simple recipe which many of us still remember, prepared by our grandmothers and mothers.
As you know, anchovies are a blue fish, very common in Ligurian cuisine and their fishing, if small-scale, is sustainable, something which makes me love them even more.
In some regions they are called alici, a name which derives from the Latin hallex, which indicated a fish sauce based on anchovies. It is possible to make many dishes with these little fish: raw in a marinade, fried, in sauces, baked al gratin in the oven, in pies and pizzas.
Anchovies have excellent nutritional properties: a source of protein, containing omega-3, B and E group vitamins, iron, phosphorus, calcium, potassium, zinc and a significant selenium content (with about 50% of the daily requirement in 100 g!), very useful for maintaining the thyroid function.
They cannot be sampled without a good glass of white wine while listening to the song “Le acciughe fanno il pallone” by the great Fabrizio De André. The Genoese singer-songwriter describes, in this song, the defensive method of the anchovies which, feeling themselves under threat, move in unison towards the surface of the water, creating a sort of “ball”.
Ingredients
Tools
Steps
Clean the anchovies, removing the insides and the head but leaving them well closed without opening them up like a book.
Leave the fishbone inside therefore.
Wash, dry and flour them.
Hint: to flour them I put them in a colander, throw on the flour, and turn them over with my hands so that the flour attaches very well and then shake so that any excess flour falls off. It is better to proceed with a few anchovies at a time.
Fry in plenty of hot oil.
Remove with the slotted spoon and position them on the serving dish on top of a sheet of straw paper which absorbs the excess oil.
Salt to taste and serve!
Varied doses for servings