The United States is divided between people who love garlic and people who abhor garlic. Garlic lovers are warm hearted, intelligent, handsome. They are expert and ardent in the intimacies of the bedroom. People who hate garlic live in “gated communities,” vote Republican and believe that the Olive Garden is an ethnic restaurant. Suffice it to say that garlic-haters are not Casanovas. Anchovies are a more complex matter. HG knows many otherwise estimable people who don’t like anchovies. They don’t even like them in a Caesar Salad where they are a vital ingredient. BSK is an artist of the anchovy. She uses them in vegetable stir fries, sautes and stews where the anchovies dissolve imparting an umami flavor as they enhance the other ingredients. Anchovies are useful in larding a leg of lamb in the French provincial manner. HG likes them with roasted Piquillo peppers and a dash of olive oil. And, when HG wants some simple comfort HG makes a sauce of anchovies, garlic, Italian parsley and hot pepper flakes and pours it over some al dente linguini. Heavily salted anchovies are sold in crates in some Italian neighborhood groceries. They have to be soaked in water and rinsed. HG has never managed to get it right. Instead, HG buys high quality anchovy filets in jars rather than the tinned variety.
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