The Polarizing Anchovy + Egg Salad Niçoise #FishFridayFoodies

It's time for Fish Friday Foodies' May 2021 event. We are a group of seafood-loving bloggers, rallied by Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm, to share fish and seafood recipes on the third Friday of the month. 

And this month, Sue of Palatable Pastime is hosting. She asked the bloggers to share seafood in a salad. She wrote: "There is a wide range of salads you can make, either in or on the salad itself."

Here's the May 2021 line-up from the #FishFridayFoodies. I cannot wait to try these recipes...

• Avocado and Shrimp Chopped Salad From A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Mediterranean Avocado Salmon Salad From Making Miracles
• Prawn 65 With Couscous & Braised Veggies Salad From Sneha's Recipe
• Salade Niçoise From Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Shrimp Salad in Tartelleter From Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Soft Shell Crab & Shrimp in Quinoa Salad From Of Goats and Greens
• Spicy Shrimp and Citrus Salad From Food Lust People Love
• Tea Room Tuna Salad From Palatable Pastime
• The Polarizing Anchovy + Egg Salad Niçoise From Culinary Adventures with Camilla

The Polarizing Anchovy

I have to laugh when I look at at an online conversation I had with some food and wine writers recently. I had no idea how polarizing anchovies were. Thankfully everyone in my household likes them, but these comments gave me a chuckle. I had posted my burrata and anchovy photo (above) with the caption, in the middle of an exchange about anchovies, "What? You don't like hairy little fish in your food?! You guys would make me eat this all by myself!??"

I got...

• Maybe I'd use them lightly or as a garnish. They are so salty.
• Yup, that's all you! 
• Mashed up into stuff sure. In their full fishy form absolutely not.
• What's funny is I'll try anything once. I've eaten all manner of bugs, worms, & weird body parts. Likely wouldn't ever eat any of them again though.

All the way to...

• Have you ever tried them on Pizza - e la morta sua. Delicious. Pizza Napoli.
• omg that looks so good!

So, people's reactions to this little fish run the gamut.

Egg Salad Niçoise

I'll be honest: When I first signed up for the event, I had no idea what I meant by the title! I just knew that I wanted to make an egg salad with all of my favorite components of a Niçoise - hard boiled eggs, haricots verts, potatoes, Niçoise olives, tomatoes, a mustard vinaigrette, and anchovies. Beyond that, I was definitely winging it. So this is what resulted...

Ingredients serves 2

Salad

• 4 hard boiled eggs, peeled and diced
• 2 anchovies for garnish
• 1 tomato, sliced into wedges
• 2 handfuls of haricots verts, blanched
• 6 new potatoes, boiled and halved
• 2 Tablespoons pitted Niçoise olives
• 3 cups torn lettuce leaves

Vinaigrette

• 2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1/3 cup champagne vinegar, or other mild-flavored vinegar such as rice-wine vinegar
• 2 anchovies
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon flake salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, plus more to taste

Procedure

Vinaigrette

In a small bowl, crush 2 anchovies into a paste. Add in the mustard and vinegar, then begin whisking. Slowly pour in oil in a steady stream, whisking constantly until all the oil is included and dressing is creamy and emulsified. Fold in the salt and pepper; season with additional salt and pepper, as needed.

Salad

In a medium bowl, add diced hardboiled eggs and 2 to 3 Tablespoons vinaigrette. Stir to incorporate and break up the yolks a little bit.

Plate 1-1/2 cups lettuce per plate. Place egg salad on top of the lettuce. Add a pile of tomatoes, green beans, and potatoes, arranging them however you like. Drizzle dressing over the vegetables. Garnish the egg salad with a whole anchovy. 

Add a few grinds of freshly ground pepper. Serve immediately.

That's a wrap for the May #FishFridayFoodies event. We'll be back next month as Sid of Sid's Sea Palm Cooking hosts us in making shortcut seafood recipes, using canned, jarred, or seafood in a pouch! Stay tuned...