Anchovies in Sea Salt, Sestri Levante 500g

Italian anchovies in sea salt handcrafted by Michele Senno, owner of the local anchovy workshop L'Anciua, who learned his trade from his grandfather, an old fisherman from Sestri Levante. In the morning, Michele chooses the anchovies that arrive at the port and processes them while still very fresh, cleaning them of their heads and entrails and then putting them to mature for a few months in salt: when they are ready, he jars them and adds the brine.

Anchovies in sea salt: how to clean them and which recipes

Salted anchovies are a typical Italian speciality common to all the gastronomic cultures of our country. They are easy and practical to use in the kitchen, always ready: just take the right amount of salted anchovies from the jar, pass them under running water, then fillet them by removing the central bone; at this point, it is recommended to pass the anchovies under water again and dry them well, then season them and leave them for a few hours to season. They can be served as an appetiser in their natural state or accompanied by croutons (or bread) and butter. A quick and easy appetiser snack is anchovy fillets in rolls: after desalinating the anchovies and filleting them, roll them around pistachios, almonds, olives, capers or tomatoes (depending on what you like) and then leave them for a few hours to season in extra virgin olive oil. These anchovies go well with fresh local white wines such as bianchetta genovese.

Anchovies in salt are used in a typical recipe from the Riviera di Ponente, the focaccia sardenaria or pissalandrea. The sardenaria is traditional from Sanremo and is a high focaccia dressed with tomatoes, onions, Taggiasca olives, capers, oregano and desalted anchovies: it is called sardenaria because the earliest versions probably included the use of sardines instead of anchovies, while the other name 'pissalandrea' or 'pizza all'Andrea' is used in the rest of the Riviera because there is a legend that the inventor of this focaccia would be none other than the famous Admiral Andrea Doria (which is very difficult...)