Linguine With Anchovies, Parsley and Walnuts | Guest Recipes | Nigella's Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Why add anchovies to pasta? ›

In Italian cooking, anchovies are extremely common. They don't add so much of a "fishy" taste as much as a salty, umami punch of flavor. For that, I always keep anchovy paste, oil or filets on hand to give pasta dishes like this a boost of flavor.

If you're new to cooking with anchovies, the best way to give them a shot is to add a few to your pasta sauce. Add the anchovies to the pan in the same stage as your aromatics, like onion and garlic, and watch as they melt into the pan.

While these tiny fish are delicious fresh from the water, most of us are more familiar with the canned variety. Because of their small size, the bones can be (and are) eaten. And when cooked, the canned anchovies, bones and all, will almost completely dissolve or "melt," leaving only the flavor.

Italians are more likely to mince up an anchovy or two and use it in their sauce, rather than fish sauce. You can find fish sauce in Italy, I'm sure, and there might be more than a few people adding a dash or two to their pasta sauces. It's not a bad idea, but the anchovy is more traditional.

Simply put, anchovies are an umami bomb. They're super savory, compact packages of salt and richness. Yes, they're fishy but not as pungent as their smell would suggest. Anchovies add a level of depth to dishes in the same way umami-rich ingredients like miso and sun-dried tomato add savoriness.

Pioneer is ending production of Pecks Anchovette and Redro fish pastes. The company says people no longer have an appetite for minced fish preserved in a jar. Pecks may still find a way back into the country given its international footprint - but it's likely the end of the line for Redro.

But by contrast to the little fishes that come in tins or jars, anchovy paste is anchovies 2.0. A ground mixture of anchovies, salt, and olive oil (though some brands only feature the first two elements), it comes in a toothpaste-like tube often with a neat retro-looking design.

They are used in small quantities to flavor many dishes. Because of the strong flavor of anchovies, they are also an ingredient in several sauces, including Worcestershire sauce, remoulade and many fish sauces, and in some versions of Café de Paris butter. Anchovies are a popular pizza topping in some places.

What do anchovies add to a dish? ›

Although anchovies are often written off as fishy, what a high-quality anchovy actually brings to the table is umami and saltiness. When you cook anchovies in oil or butter, they essentially melt into the fat, imbuing it with those flavors as they disintegrate.

Despite their reputation, anchovies are not overpowering, at least once cooked. Used with garlic as the start of a fast pasta sauce, they dissolve almost instantly and add a mysteriously meaty complexity that makes the sauce seem as if it had simmered for hours.

Anchovies add tons of umami flavor to dishes, similar to the way fish sauce adds that special something to Thai and Vietnamese cuisine. It doesn't necessarily add a fishy taste, but a sharp salty quality that punches up the flavor — it's why we love them!