Friday, March 4, 2016

Spring Vegetable Tartine with White Anchovies – Food Wishes and Little Fishes

It’s not unusual for me to borrow ideas from the various restaurants I visit, but they’re normally tweaked, altered, or otherwise adapted. This time, however, I just blatantly stole this spring vegetable tartine with white anchovies, as it. Why mess with perfection?

Yes, this spring vegetable tartine, featuring the awesomeness that is the white anchovy, was lifted almost verbatim from SHED, which is my current, “favorite place to eat.” If you’re ever anywhere near Healdsburg, CA (like within 500 miles), you simply must visit this amazing store/café/charcuterie/restaurant hybrid.

Now that I’ve offset some of my guilt for stealing this recipe with such a glowing recommendation, I can move on to this intensely tasty tartine. This would be incredibly delicious with just the aioli and vegetables, but when you add the “boquerones,” this goes from great sandwich, to memorable experience.

Even if you think you hate anchovies, which you really don’t, you may still love these, since they are so completely different. They are very mild in flavor, but still extremely savory. I was going to say they're a little bit like pickled herring, but that probably won’t help. Regardless, I hope you give this spring vegetable tartine a try very soon. Enjoy! 


Ingredients for 4 generous servings:

For the aioli:
1 or 2 garlic cloves, sliced
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
pinch of cayenne

The rest:
4 large thick slices day-old French bread, toasted
16 white anchovy fillets (aka boquerones)
* 2 cups thinly peeled, sliced, or shredded fresh vegetables, moistened with a splash of lemon juice, and drizzle of olive oil.
edible flowers, optional

* Carrots, fennel root, radishes, celery root, asparagus, artichoke hearts, peppers, endive, micro greens, and any/all kinds of sprouts would work beautifully here.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Chef, I'm pretty sure the one you ate in the video was the one with less aioli. Michelle is not going to be happy...and it's probably just about lunch time!

arwiv said...

First off, anyone who "hates" any sort of anchovies is either not too smart or still too young to know any better. Secondly, I have never even heard of white anchovies....I would guess that a high quality canned bristling sardine would be a decent replacement.

Elliott Encarnación said...

Love the Bernie shoutout! Feel the Bern. Oh, and I can vouch for the boquerones. They are delicious. Cheers!

Kennapop3 said...

Salt free Anchovies here I come. I have long been a fan of salt free tuna so this is an easy choice. Thanks Chef!

Anonymous said...

Oh it looks great!
I will try it...
Thanks for that

Chef John said...

Just FYI, these anchovies aren't cured in salt, but are still not low-salt. They are still highly seasoned, just not as intensely salty.

Anonymous said...

Nope. No anchovies.

Unknown said...

If anything they are closer to the taste of pickled herrins then traditional anchovies

beemo said...

I can't seem to find the white anchovies, but there are reasonably simple recipes on the Web to make one's own (provided raw or frozen anchovies can be procured). I just wonder the results might compare to a brand variety? Is this one of those things best left to the factories?