HUNGRY GERALD

Garlic, capers and anchovies. BSK uses this tasty trio in a variety of dishes. All savory. Last night, BSK put them to good use in a panful of crisp-skinned, golden brown chicken thighs highly flavored with the noble trio and enhanced with much lemon juice. BSK consulted Melissa Clark’s recipe for garlic and lemon chicken from The New York Times. BSK made some changes in ingredients and techniques. BSK added white wine. BSK also cooked the sauce in a separate pan before adding it to the browned chicken. Didn’t want the garlic to burn. Once more, BSK’s attention to details insures dining joy.

Recently, HG ordered Caesar Salad at a Santa Fe restaurant. The waiter asked: “Would you like it without anchovies?” HG was dismayed. After all, a Caesar Salad is unthinkable without the delicious salty addition of anchovies. But, the waiter was only doing his duty. There are many people who detest the salty oiliness of anchovies. HG loves anchovies, both unadorned and as a flavor enhancer of many foods. HG thought about the magical anchovy as HG enjoyed BSK’s sublime version of penne with broccoli. Here’s how BSK does it. First, BSK cuts short lengths of the broccoli stems. Not the very tough ends but the green, slimmer portion of the stems. They go into a food processor with shallots, parsley and garlic. This miix is then gently cooked in a sauce pan with olive oil and a goodly amount of chopped anchovy. The savory sofrito is thinned with pasta water after the penne is barely al dente and completes its cooking in the pan with slightly firm broccoli florets The dish is topped with chopped ripe tomatoes and mozzarella cheese (heated for a minute or two until the cheese softens). A sprinkle of red pepper flakes. The anchovies don’t give the dish a fishy overtone.Instead, they sharpen all the other flavors. Anchovies perform this function in many other dishes. (HG is very fond of pizza topped with anchovies). The French often lard a leg of lamb (gigot) with anchovies. Haven’t tried it but HG gathers the anchovies bring flavor to the lamb without overwhelming it and create the basis for a tasty sauce. One of HG’s favorite appetizers is anchovies with roasted red peppers as prepared in New York’s old time Italian restaurants. The peppers were roasted over an open flame until the skins were blackened. Popped in a paper bag for a few moments (the steaming in the bag makes it easier to remove the skins). Marinated for a bit with olive oil and a dash of vinegar. Served with a topping of anchovies. Best version was served by a long gone Italian restaurant on E. Houston Street (Lombardi’s?).They also served Mozarella en Carozza (breaded and fried cubes of mozzarella) with an anchovy sauce and Bagna Cauda (a warm dip of olive oil, butter, anchovies and garlic in which you dipped raw vegetables). Anchovy shopping advice from HG. There are heavily salted anchovies sold from barrels in a few older New York Italian grocers in Manhattan and Brooklyn. They have to be soaked in many changes of water to make them edible. Not worth it. Instead, buy jarred Italian anchovies. Don’t buy tinned anchovies. HG has enjoyed “Alici” in Italy. These are fresh, uncured anchovies with a mild taste. “Boquerones,” pale, unsalted anchovies pickled in vinegar are a staple at Spanish tapas bars. Dried anchovies are often used as a flavor base in many Japanese stocks — including Ramen. HG’s very beautiful granddaughter, Arianna R., was an elementary school student in Venice. School lunches are a serious matter in Italy. Her teacher deplored Arianna’s small appetite and said her minimal eating would make her look like an “acciughe” (anchovy). Today, the young woman has a robust appetite but retains a slim silhouette. Must be metabolism.

The government liquor store in nearby Morell, Prince Edward Island, has moved (there are some private wine merchants in Canada, but most spirits-wine-beer stores are government operations). Sign is still up but the store is vacant. HG/BSK made inquiries from some locals. Informed that the liquor store had moved to the gredge. HG/BSK were puzzled. What is a gredge? Turns out a “gredge” is a gas station or garage. The liquor store now occupies a corner of a Needs (a local convenience store chain) which is attached to a gas station (aka “gredge.”) Mystery solved. Other PEI mysteries abound: Anchovies are near impossible to locate in PEI groceries. After a many fruitless inquiries, HG finally located some dusty tins of anchovies, on ice, in the fresh fish department. Clam broth (or clam juice) cannot be found anywhere. Seems strange on an island famed for its bivalves. And okra, a fairly regular vegetable in US markets, occupies a place of complete ignorance in PEI. No one know what it is or where to get it and when SJ has trolled the markets looking for it (to make his famed gumbo), he has met a rather threatened silence, as if “okra” was a code word for illicit drugs. Fortunately, the main PEI mystery — which HG is happy if it remains unsolved– is how this wonderful, peaceful, eminently liveable island province has remained under-the-radar for so long.

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.