Tin can Alley

A casa rosada signature dish, piquillo pepper tapa

with almond and anchovy

Quick: What ingredient is delicious, sustainable, easy to store, and adds protein and healthy fats to any dish? Canned fish of course. Tuna, Anchovies, mussels, salmon, mackerel, sardines, crab, cockles and herrings. Tins, packets and short ingredient lists have become our best friends of late – as has ever-resourceful cooking. It’s amazing what you can do with a tin of fish. It’s also amazing what it can´t do and what it can do to you; boasting heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, zinc and plenty of protein, tinned fish is certainly good for you. It’s also incredibly kind on your wallet, too. Here in Portugal you can get a good quality can of fish with good nutritional values for under um euro a pop..Just be sure to check the nutritional values on the can before you take it home, in particular checking out the salt content. Having stocked up your larder you will soon realise the benefits of having a capsule-wardrobe style cupboard of cheap, familiar tinned items that can be tweaked every week to create an interesting, seasonal menu. A tin of food is a magical thing. Cheap,long-lasting, and capable of transforming into a whole world of dishes. Whether it was too cold for fresh produce, or the furloughed budget made outlaying on expensive ingredients out of the question, as we near the
end of another lockdown we have relied on tinned food to keep us going.
And the best thing about a tin of food? It can be very versatile. So versatile, in fact, it inspires a myriad of recipe books on the subject, You might fancy a come to bed parmigiana from the Uk´s queen of thrift Jack Monroe  or you might opt for Bart van Olphen elevating canned tuna to the heights of deliciousness. Their books  focus on multiple different tins of ingredients: green lentils, tomatoes, coconut milk, anchovies,  butter beans, sweetcorn, chickpeas, cherries and condensed milk. The results are simple, delicious and budget friendly recipes to break us out this tiresome pandemic. Tinned fish is commonly overlooked and not given enough credit – it’s delicious, sustainable and just as good as fresh! It can be adapted to suit simple soups, sauces , to sandwiches, salads and wholesome meals.
Scrumptious recipes for tuna, mackerel, herring, salmon and more—so tasty, you won't
believe it's from a can! Anchovy and piquillo pepper tapa, herring smorrebrod, tuna-stuffed piqillo peppers, bottled clam pasta, tuna burger. Eat them separately, or, serve
them up as a mezze or tapas selection.
When I’m at a loss, wondering what to cook that is appealing and relatively easy, I scan the non-perishable items in my pantry and take a glance at the fridge and freezer. Often,
I come across some forgotten treasure, heavenly sent to make a trip to the shops redundant.
As I rifled through the canned goods assortment recently, it came to me in a flash. A canned fish themed TV dinner. It would not require me leaving the house, acquiring a fishing rod ( you may well chuckle but the lengths some people have gone to in Lockdown!!!) or even a visit to the fishmarket — just a can opener and a few other staple ingredients.

Seafood from a can doesn’t have to be just survival fare as heralded of late. Superior preserved products are a delicacy, if your budget allows. It’s worth the investment to pay a little more for high-quality anchovies and Ortiz Ventresca tuna, and even more of a treat should you find them lurking in the cupboard. Among my bounty was a tin of anchovies, a jar of tuna fillets in oil and some bottled baby clams. I also found a jar of

my favourite Spanish piquillo peppers. With a baguette, a couple of burger buns some potatoes , spaghetti, smoked almonds and a bit of home baking a stellar menu was coming together. To make it all would have been too much but a carefully selected few made up a balanced spread.
For starters, a mouthwatering snack, there could be an anchovy tapas, the endlessly variable Spanish standby, with a glass of sherry of course
This version, simplicity itself, is a casa rosada signature dish: thin slices of toasted day-old baguette, rubbed with garlic, smeared with a dollop of pan fried marcona almonds and piquillo peppers and finished with with a carefully placed anchovy fillet.
I was so happy to find the piquillo peppers, bright red, roasted and peeled, ready to stuff. Every tapas bar in Spain serves them, sometimes with a filling of creamy salt cod (brandade to the francophiles ) or a slice of soft cheese. But my clear favourite  is piquillos with a filling of tuna, parsley and buttery mashed potato. They could be tapas or the starter of a more sumptuous repast.
Finally, for a main, I had a fish burger in mind but with the same amount of tuna but made up  as mini burgers this could be another tapas item, see where i´m going here?
Of course, you could also serve any of these dishes by themselves. Pintxos and crostinis as far as I am concerned are welcome any time drinks are in the offing. The stuffed peppers or the smorrebrod could be served as a light lunch, and a big old burger is a meal in itself, as too a bowl of pasta can certainly suffice for a whole meal. But having them together in one composed menu gives you time to linger at the table, enjoying companionship and discussing the complex challenges we face at this moment in time.

Herring Smørrebrød (Danish Sandwich) makes 4 sandwiches

4 slices Pumpernickel or other rye bread, ( I made my own )
1 tablespoon butter, divided
1 small beetroot, grated
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
5 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons olive oil
125g cooked new potatoes
25ml mayonnaise
25ml greek yoghurt
1/2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
dash of lemon juice
1/2 tsp curry powder
salt and pepper 
Tbsp dill
1 375g jar marinated or pickled Herring fillets
½ medium shallot, thinly sliced, divided
2 spring onions, divided
2 sprigs dill, divided
4 teaspoons capers, rinsed, divided
8 slices fresh cucumber, divided

In a bowl of food processor combine beet, mustard, sour cream and olive oil. Process until creamy and smooth.
Make the potato salad.Cut the potatoes into small chunks and place in a mixing bowl. Combine the mayo, yoghurt, dill, mustard,lemon juice and curry powder,salt and pepper. Add to the potatoes mix and stir to combine
Spread butter on bread.
Spread the beetroot mousse into small mounds on the bread.
Place 2-3 1-inch slices of herring on each bread
Top each bread with slices of ¼ shallot, 1 sprig of halved scallion, 1 spring onion green shredded, 1 sprig of dill and 4 slices of cucumber.
Finish off by topping each bread with 2 teaspoons of capers.

Pequillo pepper almond and anchovy tapa ( pictured top )
 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 shallots, finely diced
1 cup bottled pequillo peppers
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar (maybe more if you use more almonds)
1 teaspoon piri piri oil 1/3 cup roasted salted marcona almonds
4 tablespoons olive oil (you may need more if you use 1/2 cup almonds like I did)
baguette or small rustic bread slices

Cook the garlic, shallots, peppers, 1 tablespoon vinegar and 1 tablespoon olive oil on the stove over medium-low heatuntil the garlic and shallot are softened but not coloured. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a bit.

Grind the almonds in a mini food processor. After pulsing once or twice, add the remaining three tablespoons olive oil and process until the almonds are creamy.

Stir together the almonds and cooked pepper mixture in a serving bowl. If the dip is too thick for you, add a bit more olive oil. I added one or two more tablespoons of oil and one more tablespoon of vinegar to get a slightly thinner consistency.

Serve spread thickly on baguette slices topped with marinated anchovies

Piquillo peppers stuffed with tuna, onions and mashed potatoserves 6 as a starter or 4 as a main course 1 tin of artesan piquillo peppers ( Navarrico or Bujanda )750 g floury potatoes, King Edwards or Maris Piper peeled and boiled (approx. 4 medium potatoes)1 tin of Ortiz tuna2 Spanish onions sliced into thin ringsa very thick slice of butter ( about 75g )a few large sprigs of thyme Salt and pepper Extra butter for the mashed potato and for greasing the oven dish  Melt the butter in a heavy based pan. Add the onions with a sprinkling of salt and cook slowly over a low heat.It will take 30 minutes or more for them to colour, though they should not brown. Meanwhile boil the potatoes, drain them and mash them adding the extra butter and then fold in the cooked onions.Check the seasoning and allow the mix to cool slightly.With a small spoon, carefully spoon the potato mixture into the peppers, pushing it gently right down to the tip of the pepper. Do not overfill as the peppers will split. Grease an ovenproof dish and lay the peppers in it side by side. Heat in a moderate oven for 10 minutes. Serve with a side salad of capers, finely diced tomatoes and parsley.

Canned tuna / burger / fish cake
makes 4 large or 8 tapas size portions
2 cans (2 x 85g) tuna
Tbsp soya sauce
Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp butter at room temperature
Tbsp lemon juice
1 shallot,finely chopped
handful parsley chopped
2 spring onions, finely chopped
300g mashed potato with minimum water
2 tbsp creme fraiche
25g breadcrumbs 1 egg yolk to bind 

Mix all ingredients together to form a cohesive cake and set aside in the fridge until ready to fry.Heat a dry griddle pan and fry the burgers until nicely coloured with a crust.

Spaghetti al vongole
When you’re far from the sea or the fishmonger, you can reach for canned baby clams as they make a very decent main-course pasta ingredient. There is great variation between different brands of canned clams. Most are mild in flavour and some are not briny tasting at all. I find they always need a bit of perking up and take well to aggressive seasoning. (The liquid in the cans, as opposed to bottled clam juice, is usually rather watery and can be discarded.)In Portugal most good supermarkets carry bags of frozen de-shelled clams. I always keep a bag of these in the freezer and find them a better
alternative to their bottled counterpart.
30 ml/1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion,very finely chopped
2 garlic cloves crushed
400g/14oz tin chopped tomatoes
150ml/174 pint/1/2 cup dry white wine
350g / 12oz bottled clams and their juices
reserved cooking stock and juices
250g/8 oz spaghetti tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley plus extra for garnish
salt and pepper to taste
Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the onion and cook gently stirring frequently,for about 5 minutes until softened,but not brown.Stir in the garlic,tomatoes,wine and reserved clam cooking liquor, with salt to taste. Add agenerous grinding of black pepper.Bring to the boil,stirring,then lower the heat.Cover the pan and simmer the sauce gently for about 20 minutes,stirring from time to time. Meanwhile cook the spaghetti in a large pan of rapidly boiling salted water and cook for 12 minutes or until it is al dente.Drain the spaghetti thoroughly an. add the clams and finely chopped parsley to the tomato sauce and heat through,then taste for seasoning.Tip the drained spaghetti into a warmed serving bowl.pour over the tomato sauce and toss thoroughly to mix. Serve at once
garnished with the extra parsley.
PANTRY TIP
The tomato sauce can be prepared several days ahead and kept in the fridge.Add the clams and heat them through at the last minute-but don´t let them boil or they will toughen.