A is for Anchovy

The anchovy is a tiny fish – there are 144 species in 17 genera (families?) which is something I didn’t know. The following is a copy from Wikipedia.

A traditional method of processing and preserving anchovies is to gut and salt them in brine, allow them to mature, and then pack them in oil or salt. This results in a characteristic strong flavor and the flesh turns deep grey. Pickled in vinegar, as with Spanish boquerones, anchovies are milder and the flesh retains a white color. In Roman times, anchovies were the base for the fermented fish sauce garum. Garum had a sufficiently long shelf life for long-distance commerce, and was produced in industrial quantities. Anchovies were also eaten raw as an aphrodisiac. Today, they are used in small quantities to flavor many dishes. Because of the strong flavor, they are also an ingredient in several sauces and condiments, including Worcestershire sauce, Caesar salad dressing, remoulade, Gentleman's Relish, many fish sauces, and in some versions of Café de Paris butter. For domestic use, anchovy fillets are packed in oil or salt in small tins or jars, sometimes rolled around capers. Anchovy paste is also available. Fishermen also use anchovies as bait for larger fish, such as tuna and sea bass.

The strong taste people associate with anchovies is due to the curing process. Fresh anchovies, known in Italy as alici, have a much milder flavor. In Sweden and Finland, the name anchovies is related strongly to a traditional seasoning, hence the product "anchovies" is normally made of sprats and herring can be sold as "anchovy-spiced". Fish from the Engraulidae family are instead known as sardell in Sweden and sardelli in Finland, leading to confusion when translating recipes.

Unfortunately many people, unfamiliar with anchovies, have tried them straight out of their tins or jars and found them to be most unpleasant. With reason. They should generally NOT be eaten that way. As it says above, eaten as part of a recipe or sauce, they become a wonderful addition and even if you don’t like fish, they DON’T impart a fishy flavour to things but generally give a somewhat salty taste which can be delicious.

Matt and I love this dish and have made it many times. I call it English Peppers because it was an Englishwoman I first saw making it on TV many years ago. Do try it, I promise you won’t taste any fish. In fact I usually add a bit more anchovy.

English Stuffed Peppers

2 Red Peppers
3 Medium Tomatoes
4 Anchovy Fillets
12 Slices of Garlic
2 Tbs olive oil
French Bread

1. Cut peppers in half vertically and clean. Peel tomatoes and cut in to pieces. Stuff in to peppers. Snip one anchovy fillet per pepper half over tomatoes and add 4 slices of garlic to each pepper. Spoon olive oil over each pepper and roast for 1 hr in an oven preheated to 350F. Serve with crusty bread.

Have a great day

Battery Life, Dangerous Heels, Khat, Pizza.

Why doesn’t my 2 hour laptop battery last 2 hours? It really is frustrating and I would hate to have to rely on it when I wasn’t in a position to charge my battery. I recently saw an ad for a laptop of some kind with a 9 hr. battery, mind you the unit was about $1,000, but I bet even that doesn’t last a full 9 hours. Laptop batteries are pretty expensive on their own, I did think of getting a spare battery until I looked at the prices. A friend used to talk about going home by train and watching a movie – I wouldn’t think my battery would last long enough.

Watching GMA the other day they had a segment about high heels and just how bad they really are for women. In fact they can apparently cause heart attacks which seems a little extreme but it was well documented. Now I have come across an article by WebMD talking about the health risks of high heels which I thought you might be interested in reading. Although a man was trying them out on TV, obviously this article is predominantly directed towards women. I used to wear very high heels, for the time, when I was younger, those were about 3 inches, but these days they have gone to the extreme and women are basically walking on tiptoe. I don’t wear heels any more; I certainly wouldn’t like to try these. I once got my heel caught in a manhole cover, I think these would be even more prone to something like that. They used to complain about floor damage when I was younger, something like a ton of pressure is exerted on the heel, I wonder if it’s the same with these modern shoes or does all the pressure go to the toes. A friend of mine has a name for shoes like the ones in the picture, she calls them “Come f..k me shoes”.

I don’t pretend to be ‘up’ on drugs but I have just read about an entirely unknown one, khat. Apparently a detector dog named Rusty sniffed 60 kg. of the plant at Toronto airport. It is a substance grown in the Horn of Africa which is chewed to release an amphetamine like substance. Rusty got some good doggy treats for his success. I can’t honestly say it looks very appealing, I certainly wouldn’t want to chew this even if I wanted a drug.  I don’t know what breed Rusty is, I thought Labradors were the main breed for drug detection. Obviously not.

I just read something about the first time someone had pizza. For me that was in Paris when I was about 18. My French boyfriend of the time, I was staying with his family, took me to a restaurant, I have no idea if it was pizza only, and ordered one – I hated it. I didn’t tell him that of course, but I really didn’t like the flavours at all. Nothing like the pizza here which, in my opinion, are overloaded with things, you can keep your pepperoni. Until you have had a genuine Italian pizza, you haven’t lived. I think the second time I ate pizza was in Sicily when my cousin and I meandered down a street buying small pizzas to eat and then buying ice creams, then back to pizzas. Those I loved. I think the first time there were too many olives and at that age I hadn’t really developed a taste for them. I also like anchovies on my pizza but I have rarely come across anyone in North America who enjoys anchovies. Most people seem to have tried them on their own and found them way too salt. Well they are, but added to something else they give a delicious flavour. There is a recipe I often make which I saw on TV made by an Englishwoman. I don’t know what they were called, but I call them English Stuffed Peppers, the recipe uses anchovies and I have, on occasion, given them to people who profess not to like anchovies, and they have enjoyed the peppers very much even when realising what they contained. I don’t have an exact picture of the finished recipe but the one below is very similar. Ooh, now I’m hungry for stuffed peppers.

English Stuffed Peppers

2 Red Peppers
3 Medium Tomatoes
4 Anchovy Fillets
12 Slices of Garlic
2 Tbs olive oil
French Bread

1. Cut peppers in half vertically and clean. Peel tomatoes and cut in to pieces. Stuff in to peppers. Snip one anchovy fillet per pepper half over tomatoes and add 4 slices of garlic to each pepper. Spoon olive oil over each pepper and roast for 1 hr in an oven preheated to 350F. Serve with crusty bread.

Servings: 4

Have a great day.

Mother’s Day, Migraine, Movies.

I am pleased all my ‘slaving over a hot tin’ on Saturday went very well in the evening and we all had a fun time. One of my guests even brought me flowers for Mother’s Day, his mom is in Rumania so I became a surrogate. Well I am a step mother and step grandmother after all!!! I hope all of you who are Mother’s had a good day yesterday. As for dinner, for those interested we had English Stuffed Peppers, Flemish Beef Stew, Goat Cheese Potato Purée and finally Cookies and Cream. Everyone had seconds of the main course except me, I was way too full. The Beef Stew was originally published by me on February 3, 2010 and I can highly recommend it. We have eaten it a couple of times and really enjoyed it. I make it in my new slow cooker which I have only used twice. The Goat Cheese Potato Puree was published April 21, 2008. It is one of our favourites, loaded with cream, butter and goat cheese. Very healthy!!!

Funny really, Matt decided to phone his daughters yesterday to wish them Happy Mother’s Day. Both of us had forgotten that Mothering Sunday takes place in March in Britain. Duuh.

I have just discovered I have scintillating scotoma which is a symptom of migraine (silent migraine) and usually without the migraine itself. It was mentioned to me over the weekend and immediately rang a bell, I have been suffering from this, periodically, for a number of years. Usually I have to rest with my eyes closed for at least half an hour, maybe longer, and it finally goes away. I remember the first time it happened and it was pretty scary. No-one ever diagnosed the problem though and I have just been putting up with it for a good 12-15 years, I did mention it to my doctor and told her I thought it was migraine related, but she didn’t seem to have a clue. Another doctor thought it was to do with high blood pressure.

Last night I watched Notting Hill which I really loved, I had seen it before, but couldn’t quite remember how it all went down. Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant who are two of my favourites. It’s a love story of course, but that’s right up my street. I think most women like a good love story, even if they don’t, I do. In case you are unfamiliar with the story, he is a, not very successful, book seller in Notting Hill with a somewhat odd room mate and a somewhat odd family too. She is a famous film star and whilst filming in London, happens to wander into his book store. From there the story develops.

By the way, our summer league at bowling starts today. Now we will be bowling once a week instead of twice.

The English Stuffed Peppers which we had for a starter on Saturday is a recipe we saw on a TV programme years ago, they were prepared by an English woman, hence the name I gave them. I don’t remember either her name, the programme or what she actually called the recipe. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture. I don’t want to hear anyone saying “I don’t like anchovies” I promise you they will not be even remotely noticeable, they will blend in and just make the dish slightly salty.

English Stuffed Peppers

2 Red Peppers

3 Medium Tomatoes

4 Anchovy Fillets

12 Slices of Garlic

2 Tbs olive oil

French Bread

1. Cut peppers in half vertically and clean. Peel tomatoes and cut in to pieces. Stuff in to peppers. Snip one anchovy fillet per pepper half over tomatoes and add 4 slices of garlic to each pepper. Spoon olive oil over each pepper and roast for 1 hr in an oven preheated to 350°F. Serve with crusty bread.

Servings: 4

Have a great day