Acciughe al Verde — Anchovies in Green Sauce

Ingredients

• 300 g salt-packed anchovies, Sicilian or Cantabrian; desalted in cold water for 15 minutes and carefully filleted
• For the green sauce
• 1 large bunch flat-leaf parsley, very fresh; leaves only, very finely chopped by knife — not blended
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed whole; left whole in the marinade
• 30 g capers, rinsed
• 80 ml red wine vinegar, good quality; not white wine vinegar, not malt vinegar
• 120 ml olive oil, Ligurian or similarly fruity extra-virgin
• To serve
• 4 slices bread, thickly sliced; toasted

Method

1. 1
   Submerge the salt-packed anchovy fillets in cold water and leave for 15 minutes. Lift them clear, pat thoroughly dry with paper, and fillet carefully — running the thumb along the spine to separate each fillet cleanly. Discard all bones. The flesh should be firm and pale pink, neither mushy nor aggressively salty to the tongue.
2. 2
   Chop the parsley leaves by knife to a fine, bright-green rubble. Do not use a blender or processor — the bruised cells turn the herb grey and bitter. The chopped parsley should hold its vivid colour and release a clean herbal scent.
3. 3
   Combine the parsley and rinsed capers in a bowl. Add the red wine vinegar and the olive oil. Stir to unite. Taste: the sauce should be sharp, herbal, and rounded by the oil — neither flat nor aggressively acidic. This is the step on which the dish lives or dies: the balance of acid to oil here determines whether the finished preparation is vivid or harsh, and cannot be corrected once the anchovies have marinated.
4. 4
   Lay the anchovy fillets in a single layer in a shallow dish. Nestle the crushed whole garlic cloves among them — do not mince the garlic. Pour the green sauce over, ensuring every fillet is coated and submerged. Cover with film and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours; overnight is better. At the end of marinating the fillets will have taken on a deeper, less saline character and the sauce will smell of parsley and anchovy together rather than separately.
5. 5
   Remove the garlic cloves before serving. Arrange the fillets on toasted bread or alongside crushed boiled potato. The olive oil will have partially set in the cold — allow the dish to rest at room temperature for 10 minutes before serving, until the oil runs freely and coats the fillets with a visible sheen.