Anchovy paste — just a little of this can make a world of difference. It’s for this reason why every good chef, professional or non-professional alike, has to have a tube of it within easy reach. With a tiny dollop of anchovy paste, it’s for certain that your family and friends won’t be able to figure out the magic ingredient of your every masterpiece.
The good news is you can easily get your hands on a tube of anchovy paste if you want to start whipping up nothing but really savory foods whose taste no one will ever forget.
Unfortunately, not all anchovy pastes are created equally. Some of them could pack all sorts of ingredients that you would not want for you or any of your guests to ingest. Just because you want to leave them awestruck the moment they put a spoonful of your culinary work of art in their mouths doesn’t mean you are willing to compromise their health!
Fortunately, you don’t have to settle for any one of those anchovy paste options containing unnecessary ingredients for you to start coming up with extraordinary treats. That’s because you can easily make one from scratch.
Yes, you read it right — making your own anchovy paste is rather easy. So much so that you will only need three different ingredients, all of which you can easily buy at your favorite supermarket. What’s more, there is no need for you to use fancy kitchen tools and equipment for you to be able to make anchovy paste with your own hands.
Here are the very simple steps that you may take if you want to end up with something that can easily give those anchovy pastes available at supermarkets and specialty stores a run for their money:
Open a small tin can of anchovies. Make sure that it’s something that is packed in oil and not salt — you surely wouldn’t want your homemade anchovy paste to taste really salty, something that can easily ruin the taste of your masterpieces and also cause your blood pressure to spike!
Transfer the contents of the tin can onto a strainer large enough to accommodate them. Allow the oil to drain very well. Give this process enough time to complete for the best homemade anchovy paste.
Place the drained anchovies in a mixing bowl. Add half a teaspoon or rock salt and start mashing the anchovies with a fork. Keep on doing this until you no longer see large chunks remaining. Be patient — mashing anchovies very well is one of the secrets to coming up with a homemade anchovy paste with a phenomenal texture.
Add a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and mix very well. Not happy with the consistency? Then you may add a little more extra virgin olive oil. It’s a good idea to add very small amounts of extra virgin olive oil at a time.
Once you are very pleased with the texture, transfer your homemade anchovy paste in a small clean jar with a cap. Stash the finished product in the refrigerator to keep it fresh for up to a couple of weeks.
After making your very first batch of anchovies and using it to give your latest creation a boost in flavor, come back to this site and feel free to share your experience with it in the comments section below!
