Ingredient: Anchovies
If you’ve ever enjoyed a Caesar salad or a dash of Worcestershire sauce, you’ve already eaten anchovies. Anchovies are tiny salty fish that add that yummy ‘umami’ taste to any dish and are packed with nutrition. Anchovy paste is just the same thing just mashed up, and it’s one of the most useful things to keep in your fridge.
In England, Gentleman’s Relish (which contains anchovies) was around for spreading on toast since 1828, until just this year when they sadly stopped making it (we are very sad about that!).
Chopping anchovies or a squeeze of paste into a pasta sauce, a stew, or a salad dressing just makes everything taste more of itself. That’s the umami doing its work. Try stirring a little into your next bolognaise or mashing some into butter on toast!
Nutritionally, even in small amounts you’re getting omega-3s, B12, and a decent hit of protein and calcium. And for anyone worried about contaminants such as mercury in fish, then anchovies are the least likely to carry these as they are so tiny.
