Anchovies marinated in vinegar

If you are looking for a tapa side dish to accompany when drinking a cold beer, look no further as this is one of the most popular tapas in Spain, especially in the summertime.

This tapa is made with very fresh anchovies marinated in vinegar and finished with a good drizzle of olive oil and finely chopped garlic and parsley. 

In some parts of Spain, you can find it in a lot of restaurants and bars as a free tapa when you drink something like a Vermouth or a cold beer before any lunch or dinner, usually called 'aperitivo'.

I was so excited when I found out that at my fishmonger they had fresh anchovies coming from Costa Brava, which is the area of Spain I used to go to every year when I was younger.

It is a simple recipe and only requires a few ingredients and a bit of patience to clean the fresh fish.

Here is the step-by-step recipe for you, that I followed from @directoalpaladar which I found great and easy to follow.

What do you need

1 deep rectangular serving dish

1 deep tray or dish with a lid or a Tupperware I used one 18x27cm, to marinate the anchovies

1 chef knife

Ingredients

1 kg fresh anchovies

100ml white vinegar

50ml Jerez vinegar 

Virgin olive oil 

4 or 5 garlic cloves

Parsley

Method

• To start, we need to clean the anchovies under the tap water, then one by one we have to carefully remove the head, open the anchovies in half and remove the innards and the spine using your thumbs, which is quite easy as it is a small and delicate fish so it will not take much effort to do this. Then we should rinse them under cold tap water again. 

• Lay them in a deep dish big enough to put them side by side to cover the bottom of the dish. Then we cover the dish with water and some ice cubes and leave it in your fridge for 2 hours. This process will deeply clean the remaining blood of the fish and whiten the flesh.

• After this, we discard the water and put them again into the same dish the same way, side by side. Now we will add the vinegar and cover them, which will cook the fish. You can use the quantities mentioned in the ingredients or add some water to dilute the vinegar. Leave it in this marinade for about 3 more hours in your fridge again. 

• Once this process is done we have to discard the vinegar and freeze them to kill any parasites. Put them into a container to freeze with a good drizzle of olive oil for 48 hours.

• Now they are ready to eat. Chop the garlic and parsley thinly to finish the dish and place the anchovies into a nice serving dish with another good drizzle of virgin olive oil and the garlic with the parsley.

They can be stored in this oil marinade for a few days in the fridge.

They will taste beautiful with a touch of vinegar on your palate.