Red snapper with anchovies and thyme

Don't run away!  I sensed some of you shuddering when you saw the word "anchovies".  Maybe you had them on pizza once and hated it.  My first experience with anchovies occurred when I was ten years old.  My parents took me to a very fancy restaurant in Chicago and I was determined to appear sophisticated.  Things were going just fine until I looked down at my salad, which had anchovies in it. Having never seen such a thing before, I yelled, "There's a worm in my salad!" 

People often say they hate anchovies, but why are there so many cans of them in the grocery store? Here, they're in a sauce that could make anchovy skeptics into believers.  Of course, you can always make the sauce and forget to tell anyone they're in there.  The anchovies melt into the sauce, so no one will be the wiser.

This recipe is an adaption of Nigella Lawson's, and tastes particularly good after a weekend spent in food debauchery. Ahem. The fish is served with chickpeas, or garbanzos as they are known here in the West Coast.  I love the way chickpeas look, and their texture pairs nicely with the fish. I use dried chickpeas because they have a better mouth feel than canned peas.  They take a longer period of soaking than other legumes, however.  I often have containers of leftover cooked chickpeas in olive oil on hand in my fridge.  That makes it very easy to use them as a side dish or to throw in soups or salads. In fact the chickpeas from this recipe are great leftovers and get better after a few days marinating in the chili sauce.   

 

Red snapper with anchovies and thyme

Adapted from Nigella Lawson

3-4 tablespoons olive oil, plus a few dribbles from the anchovy oil

6 to 12 fillets of red snapper, redfish, or sea bream

1 clove minced garlic

2 anchovy fillets

leaves from a few sprigs of thyme

2 tablespoons sherry

1 tablespoon butter

In a large non-stick skillet, pour in a little of the oil and heat to medium.  Begin frying the fish, which doesn't take long at all.  Do not over cook. Remove to plates and keep warm.

When all the fish has been cooked, add a tablespoon of the olive oil, plus a dribble of the anchovy oil and stir in the garlic and  anchovy fillets. Stir with a wooden spoon as the oil warms. The garlic Will soften and the anchovies will melt into the oil. Add the thyme leaves and the sherry. After about a minute, remove from heat and whisk in the butter.  Pour the sauce over the fish.

Chickpeas with chili, garlic, and thyme    

18 ounces dried chickpeas

1 onion halved (don't bother to peel)

About 6 sprigs thyme

1/4 cup olive oil

salt

1 red chili pepper

1 onion

2 fat cloves of garlic

leaves from 4-5 sprigs of thyme

1/4 cup olive oil

Soak chickpeas in cold water for 24 hours.  After soaking, drain, rinse and cover the chickpeas well with cold water in a large saucepan.  Add the halved onion, thyme sprigs, and olive oil.  Put on lid, bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for about an hour.  Then add salt, cook longer, checking to see if they are soft.  When they are finally cooked, remove about 2 cups of the cooking liquid and set aside. 

Drain the chickpeas and remove the bits of onion and thyme with tongs.  Cooking the chickpeas can be done in advance and the chickpeas stored in a container in the fridge with some olive oil added to prevent them from drying out.

Roughly seed the chili pepper, peel the onion and chop it roughly.  Place the chili, onion, and  garlic in a food processor and puree to a pulp.  Pour the olive oil into a large skillet and pour the puree into it. Cook for around 10 minutes over medium heat.  Add the chickpeas, turning to coat, add half of the chickpea broth and bring to a boil.  Put on a lid and cook gently until the chickpeas are hot and soft, adding more liquid if necessary. 

When done, add some extra olive oil to the finished chickpeas--to make them glossy.  Sprinkle salt to taste and serve along with the fish. 

 

Comments

[Céline]

You're right! Give anchovies a chance! Funny, I saw Nigella Lawson preparing this recipe only a few days ago on Food TV and I found this unusual combination of flavours quite intriguing. How does that taste? I guess being served with fish, the anchovy taste is not too overwhelming. Served alone or in a salad in find them too salty.

[sher]

The sauce is very good--but it doesn't taste that fishy. Of course, with the fish there, it may have masked the anchovy taste. But, to me the sauce tasted more like soy sauce. I put anchovies in beef stew (Nigella's idea again) and it doesn't taste fishy there either. Nigella sure loves anchovies.

[Gerald]

I love anchovies. Did you know that the fish used to make fish sauce (aka patis, na plam, etc) are anchovies?

[sher]

Gerald, I do remember reading that about anchovies. Useful little guys.

[ChovyChap]

Yeah using fish to flavor fish! What a novel concept. Nothing wrong with that. I've always maintained that anchovies enhance the taste of practically ANY dish - so why not fish? That Nigella, I tell ya!