We get that anchovies can be intimidating for some home cooks. But trust the process: Sizzle a few fillets in butter or olive oil and they’ll melt into the pan, infusing every sauce they touch with umami, and never tasting as fishy as you might fear.
Anchovies are essential in countless Italian dishes. Pasta recipes like puttanesca and Caesar salad wouldn’t (or at least shouldn’t) exist without them. That’s just the start, though. If you aren’t already a fan, once you learn not if, but just how many anchovy fillets you want in your aglio e olio, we guarantee you’ll be in love. Our best anchovy recipes will get you there in no time.
If chopping the fillets is your issue, seek out anchovy paste, easily found in most supermarkets next to soups and other canned goods in a toothpaste-like tube. You’ll use about ½ tsp. anchovy paste per every fillet called for in a recipe.
