Alici al Gratin Napoletane
Baked anchovies with golden breadcrumb crust -- do not skimp on the olive oil
The alici al gratin -- known also as alici in tortiera or alici arreganate -- are the baked version of the anchovy, and they produce something entirely different from the fried version and the marinated version that appear elsewhere in this collection. Here the anchovy is opened flat, layered in a baking dish with breadcrumbs, garlic, parsley, oregano, and a very generous amount of olive oil, and baked at 200 degrees until the top is golden, fragrant, and crisp and the fish beneath is tender and cooked through. The result is simultaneously the most rustic and the most elegant of the three anchovy preparations: rustic because the ingredients are simple and the method is elemental, elegant because the presentation -- the golden gratin surface, the white fish just visible at the edges -- looks like something from a good restaurant.
The olive oil is not an ingredient here so much as a medium. A good alici al gratin requires more olive oil than seems reasonable, poured generously over each layer of fish and breadcrumbs, because the oil is what carries the heat into the breadcrumbs during baking and produces the Maillard browning that makes the topping golden rather than merely dried. Without enough oil the breadcrumbs dry and burn before they brown; with enough oil they crisp evenly and the fish beneath stays moist rather than drying out. Homemade breadcrumbs from day-old bread are markedly better than commercial ones -- coarser, more irregular, with more surface area for browning and a better flavor from the bread's yeast and crust. If you make no other extra step, make the breadcrumbs fresh.
Oregano contains carvacrol and thymol as its primary aromatic compounds -- phenolic terpenoids with a warm, slightly pungent character that pairs naturally with the intense, mineral-salty flavor of anchovies through flavor contrast rather than similarity. The salt and glutamate of the anchovy suppress the slight bitterness of the carvacrol, while the oregano's warmth provides the aromatic frame that keeps the dish from tasting only of fish. This pairing appears throughout Neapolitan and Campanian anchovy preparations and in the broader Mediterranean tradition of combining dried oregano with preserved or baked seafood. Commercial breadcrumbs are finely and uniformly ground and have a low surface area to volume ratio; homemade breadcrumbs from day-old bread are coarser and more irregular, with a higher proportion of crust material (which is denser in Maillard products from the original baking) and larger surface area that contacts the olive oil more efficiently during baking.
The recipe
Buon appetito.
