Pâté de Boquerones con Ajo Suave

Rosa is wrong about anchovies.

This is not the first time I have said this, and it will not be the last. Rosa speaks good English — better than my Spanish, though she'll switch mid-sentence when the word she wants isn't coming — and our conversations cover a lot of ground. This one kept returning to the same point: boquerones and anchovies are different fish. They are not. They are the same fish. Engraulis encrasicolus, the European anchovy, processed differently. Boquerones are typically cured in vinegar and served white and bright. Anchovies are salt-cured, pressed, and packed in oil, and emerge dark, intense, and deeply savoury. Same fish. Different life story. Rosa remains unconvinced.

The ones I used here were Cantabrian boquerones packed in olive oil, bought in a 190g tub from Emilia. Not cheap, but the quality justifies it, and a tub this size makes two meals. For this boquerones pâté recipe I used 100g, drained, and kept the rest in the fridge for another day.

I made this in Florie, parked somewhere in Cantabria last July. Even that far north it was hot in the middle of the day, and a pâté that comes together in ten minutes with nothing more than a knife, a fork, and a bowl is exactly the kind of lunch the van calls for. The confit garlic came with me from Casa Adora — a jar made a few weeks earlier and kept submerged in olive oil, where it will last for months. Soft, sweet, and completely without the raw edge that makes some people nervous around garlic. Worth making a jar and keeping it in the fridge as a matter of course.

This boquerones pâté recipe is punchy, deeply savoury, and a little goes a long way.

Pâté de Boquerones con Ajo Suave — The Flexible Chef

Ingredients (one ramekin)

• 100g Cantabrian boquerones in olive oil, drained
• 4–5 cloves confit garlic
• 100g cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon capers, drained
• Small handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• Fresh black pepper

Method

Make the confit garlic — if you don't have a jar already, separate a head of garlic into unpeeled cloves, cover with olive oil in a small pan, and cook over the lowest possible heat for 45 minutes until completely soft. Squeeze the cloves from their skins before using. Keep submerged in oil in a sealed jar in the fridge, use within the week, or freeze.

Blend — put the drained boquerones, confit garlic, cream cheese, capers, parsley, lemon juice and olive oil into a food processor or use a stick blender. Blitz until smooth. Taste — it will not need salt.

Season — a generous amount of fresh black pepper. That's all.

Serve — straight away at room temperature, or cover and refrigerate. Better after an hour, still good the next day.

More recipes for the tins and tubs in your cupboard, from sardines and mackerel to cockles, mussels and squid, are in my Tinned Fish Recipes guide.

If this took you to a hot lunch in Cantabria, you can buy me a coffee ☕ on Ko-fi.

This boquerones pâté recipe is featured in my Pâté & Rillettes Recipes, a complete collection of homemade pâtés and rillettes from the Limousin to Andalucía, and in Campervan Cooking, recipes made on the road in Florie, and in my Tinned Fish Recipes guide.
Find more recipes and food adventures here.
Wonky photos, proper food, genuine adventures — The Flexible Chef