.: evil jungle prince :.

I'd been trying to figure out what to do with my huge supply of canned anchovies -- they were on special when I bought them -- when I ran across this recipe for Greek fried anchovy and caper rissoles. Although I would not suggest serving them as a meal unto themselves as they are quite heavy after being fried, I was quite impressed with them as a meze (small dish appetizer).

1. First I combined a large sized tin of anchovies with 1 tsp capers, 1/2 chopped onion, 3-4 chopped garlic cloves, 1 egg white, 3-4 tsp flour*, 1 tsp salt, pepper, and 1 tsp dried oregano. This was blended thoroughly with a fork and then placed into the refrigerator for 2 hours.

2. I then heated a pan of Greek olive oil. Forming the anchovy mixture into small balls, I rolled these in flour and flattened, adding them to the pan and frying in the olive oil until crispy on both sides.

Together with some feta cheese and yemista (stuffed tomato with herbed rice) made with garden-fresh tomatoes from my neighbor's yard, this made for a tasty, small meal.

Aren't these beauties? The neighbors gave me a whole bag of them before they left for vacation. "They'll go bad, otherwise." I am of course happy to do my part.

* Note the use of flour is an adaptation from the original "5 slices of stale white bread." Greek food makes amazing use of stale white bread. Because in the US we don't normally have bakery-bought, crispy breads available in our kitchens, I've substituted flour for stale bread here.

baking another batch of Γεμιστά, coated in Greek olive oil