Fresh anchovies, filleted and laid in vinegar until the flesh turns pearly, then dressed with oil, garlic and parsley. You serve them cold, clean, and slightly taut — the counterweight to everything fried on the same bar. They should taste of the sea and of vinegar.
The boquerón is the fresh anchovy of the Spanish coast, distinct from the salted, oil-packed fish that goes into a gilda. Marinating in vinegar is a Mediterranean habit. Slice the garlic thin, and pour the oil over only after the fillets have been drained.
Serve them well chilled, after a rest in the oil. Txakoli or a dry Manzanilla. Bread for what remains on the plate. Don't skip that rest; the oil and garlic need a half-hour to make friends with the vinegar.
Method
- 01
Cut off the heads and pull out the viscera of each anchovy. Open the fish along the belly, lift out the backbone in one piece, and you'll have two neat fillets. Rinse them under cold water and pat them thoroughly dry. Fresh anchovies are small work, but once you have the rhythm it goes quickly, and the pearly flesh is worth every minute.
- 02
Lay the fillets in a single layer in a glass dish — metal can give them an off taste. Mix the vinegar with the cold water and a pinch of salt, pour over to cover, and refrigerate until the flesh turns opaque and pearly, 3 to 4 hours. You'll see them change from translucent to white. That's the vinegar doing the cooking.
- 03
Drain the fillets well — you don't want a puddle of vinegar under the oil — and arrange them on a plate in neat rows. Scatter with the thinly sliced garlic and the chopped parsley. The garlic must be sliced thin enough to eat; thick chips of raw garlic will bully the fish.
- 04
Cover the fillets with the olive oil and rest them 30 minutes in the cold before serving, so the oil and garlic make friends with the vinegar. Serve them well chilled. They should taste of the sea and of vinegar, the counterweight to everything fried on the same bar. Bread for what remains on the plate.
