Other than spreading on crackers and stirring into Bloody Marys, what else can I do with anchovy paste?
It’s a good addition to pasta sauce - cook it in a little olive oil, then add the sauce.
I love anchovy paste. How I’ve used it recently:
Make a quiche and swirl a line of it into the filling just before you put it in the oven, to make a little vein of awesome running through it.
Soften butter and whip it together with anchovy paste, then recombine in the fridge to make anchovy butter! Always useful. Kinda.
Dissolve a little in some vinegar to make a subsitute nam pla if you’re doing a Thai curry and have run out.
Homemade creamy caesar salad dressing! Mayo, olive oil, pepper, lemon juice, anchovy paste and* as much garlic as I want*.
Yes, or make Puttanesca (“whores”) sauce: Saute some garlic in olive oil, dissolve anchovy paste (or a few tinned or jarred anchovies, which is what I use) into olive oil. Add some chili flakes and some tinned tomato. Simmer for about 15 minutes or more if you have time. Add capers and black olives and simmer just long enough to warm those through. Serve over spaghetti. Sprinkle on frech parsley if you’re more of a high-end call-girl or guy.
Sorry, I don’t really know the quantities, I just throw in what seems right.
Spread one slice of toasted bread with it. Spread the other with aioli. Smear one with a little mild seed mustard. Wipe the other with a cut lemon or lime.
Pile up cooked bacon rashers, torn cos lettuce leaves (or baby spinach if you prefer), then grilled tomato slices, sliced cooked chicken breast (packaged stuff will do because the real flavors will overpower it). Shave some Parmigiano-Reggiano over it. A little salt, white pepper to taste.
Chicken Caesar Salad Sandwich.
Around here it gets added to all sorts of savory dishes. It adds a certain oomph to them that is hard to pinpoint, but you can tell when it is missing.
Yeah. You can also add it to a home made or store-bought vinaigrette salad dressing.
I suspect that you can make Soondubu Jigae with anchovy paste, rather than using dried anchovies, since it’s just to make a broth base:
Anchovy paste, and similar products like fish sauce, are loaded with umami, and act similarly to something like Accent/MSG. So, anywhere you want to amp up the flavors of foods, especially stews and tomato-based sauces, add a dab of anchovy paste.
Also, if you like tapenade, it goes in there, too, along with minced olives and capers.
Lamb. Spread the anchovy paste on the lamb, then cook in the usual way: roast, grilled, whatever. And add me to the list of people who know that pasta sauces very often won’t taste right without it.