The pickled anchovies are traditional and more demanded of Spanish gastronomy caps. Anchovies are part of the so-called blue fish and have multiple benefits for our body, among which are their high content of omega 3 fatty acids, vitamins of group B, A and D. Making them at home is much easier than what It seems, you just have to gather all the ingredients and follow the instructions that we show you in step by step. Keep reading this recipe and discover how to make pickled anchovies.
Ingredients:
- 1 kg of fresh anchovies.
- 300 ml of white vinegar.
- 3-4 cloves of garlic.
- 100 ml of water.
- Salt to taste.
- Extra virgin olive oil.
- Parsley.
Steps to follow to make this recipe:
- The first thing we must do to be able to prepare our anchovies in vinegar is to clean the anchovies. To do this, in many fishmongers you can ask to be served the fish already clean. It is very important that you remove both the bones and the viscera to prevent them from altering the final flavor.
- Once clean, we can start to prepare the marinated anchovies in vinegar. For this, you have two options, either mix the vinegar with the water and obtain a softer marinade, or use only vinegar. The difference is in the amount of acid, because when you lower it, the anchovies will be a bit softer, while if you opt for the vinegar-only option, they may harden slightly.
- If you prefer the reduced version, mix the white vinegar with the water and salt to taste in a bowl. If you opt for the vinegar-only option, mix it only with the salt. Take another container with enough capacity to place all the anchovies and pour the liquid mixture (or just the vinegar). Once this is done, we are going to put the anchovies open and with the skin facing down inside that same container.
- It is very important that the anchovies are completely covered by the vinegar, water and salt maceration, so you should add more if they are not. Now cover the container and reserve it in the refrigerator for two hours if you have mixed the vinegar with water or 30 minutes if you only used vinegar. Over time, check that the meat of the fish has turned white. If so, you are ready to move on with the pickled anchovies recipe.
- Take them out of the fridge and grab another equally large container. What you should do now is place the pickled anchovies in that new container without almost draining them, in layers and the skin facing down. That is, we create a layer of anchovies all placed vertically, for example, and cover it with olive oil. Then, we make a second layer, but this time we put the anchovies horizontally and cover with oil again. We must continue interspersing the positions until we finish placing all the anchovies and add oil in each of them.
- With the anchovies in vinegar covered in oil, we can return them to the refrigerator for 48 hours to rest or freeze them and leave them for 24 hours. Both processes are correct, the difference is that with freezing, we also favor the prevention of anisakis. After the hours, we can serve them with a little finely chopped garlic and parsley. If you have frozen them, you should wait for them to defrost completely to add the dressing.
