Anchovies

 Yesterday I made a marinara sauce for staff meal at work. I modified my normal method by adding a few chopped anchovies to the pot after cooking the garlic in olive oil. What a difference!

 It didn't make the sauce taste like anchovies, it just added a rich taste like cooking pork bones with tomato gravy does.

 The sauce was nothing more than extra virgin olive oil, garlic, anchovies, hand-crushed canned plum tomatoes, sea salt and red pepper flakes. After cooking the garlic in the oil over medium heat until soft and just starting to brown, I added the chopped anchovies. A few minutes later I added the tomatoes with their juice. Then the salt and pepper, simmered for about 15 minutes and it was ready.

 We had it with grilled hot italian sausage and bucatini with parmesan cheese. It will now be my method for marinara sauce which I generally use for lasagna, eggplant parmesan or spaghetti and meatballs.

 Anchovies are one of those things that most people think should be hidden in foods. The site of anchovy filets on pizza might be too much for some people who enjoy caesar salad or worcestershire sauce. I can't disagree with them, although the site and texture of anchovies doesn't bother me .

 I also recently put anchovies into ratatouille I made to serve with Swordfish. I often make dishes like that vegetarian, but I figured if I'm serving it with fish I'll be safe. The ratatouille was delicious! Like the marinara sauce, it didn't taste like anchovies, it just had a meaty richness that complemented the acidity of the ratatouille beautifully.