Marinated anchovies, an easy recipe to make them at home in total safety for fresh and flavorful marinated anchovies with a special dressing. To prepare marinated anchovies, we need nice fresh anchovies, preferably already frozen for at least 24 hours in a freezer, but if we find them fresh and not frozen, we can freeze them ourselves in the common freezer we all have. I recommend cleaning them first and freezing them afterward. We can get help from the fishmonger for cleaning, as they usually remove the head and guts if asked, and sometimes even prepare them perfectly without bones. Yes, for marinated anchovies, the bones must be removed, but I assure you it’s very simple, especially if our trusted fishmonger hasn’t already done it. Let’s see how to prepare marinated anchovies; I’ll guide you step by step, even for cleaning fresh anchovies, as I’ve cleaned so many at home since I was a kid, and we ate plenty every week.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very economical
- Rest time: 3 Minutes
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: No cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients for Marinated Anchovies
- 1.1 lbs anchovies
- 1 lemon juice (for marinating)
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- to taste parsley
- to taste wild fennel
- 1 chili pepper
- 1 garlic
- to taste salt
- to taste olive oil
Tools for Preparing Marinated Anchovies
- 1 Container
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Plate
- 1 Chopper
- 1 Citrus Juicer
Steps for Preparing Marinated Anchovies
Let’s start by cleaning the anchovies. Detach the head and gently pull to remove the guts. Wash well and dry. Then press lightly where the head was removed to open the anchovy and remove the bone, so you have two fillets opened like a book. You can also leave them connected.
Place the cleaned anchovies in a freezer-safe container, close it, and leave in the freezer to freeze the anchovies for at least 96 hours, approximately 4 days.
Thaw the anchovies and prepare them for marinating. It can be done with vinegar, lemon juice, or a mix of both. I used lemon juice, squeeze enough to cover the anchovies in the container. Leave in the fridge for 2-3 hours.
After 3 hours, drain the anchovies. Prepare to dress them. You can use chopped parsley and garlic with olive oil and chili pepper, and a little salt. I preferred to create a sauce by putting olive oil with parsley, garlic, chili pepper, salt, a bit of tender wild fennel, and a little vinegar and lemon in the chopper. Blend everything and use the creamy mixture to dress the marinated anchovies, different from the usual, truly delicious, and with a fresh taste. Instead of wild fennel, you can also use mint. Now our marinated anchovies are ready to enjoy, great to serve as an appetizer or to enrich our salads.
