With the holidays upon us, might be nice to offer your guests something different as an hor’d’oeuvre. Bagna càuda, which translates into ‘warm bath’ is a famous Piemontese dish, with anchovies as the key ingredient. Seems funny that Piemonte, as one of the only regions in Italy that doesn’t touch the sea would have a dish with anchovies as its base. The history behind this is that 300 years ago, Piemontese people that harvested salt and butter in the mountains would trade along the ancient salt routes in exchange for anchovies from Liguria.

Now before you think, anchovies, yuck, too salty, the key here is that the anchovies are melted in olive oil. You have to be careful not to fry them or else the anchovies loose all their flavour. The fact that you combine the anchovies with garlic (soaked first in milk), butter and olive oil makes it clear how this is a yummy dish to set in the middle of a table for friends to gather round and enjoy large plates of raw vegetables and a good bottle of Barolo.

Ingredients: (per head)

• ¾ head of garlic
• 50 grams (1/4 cup) of chopped anchovies fillets
• 60 ml (¼ cup) of milk
• 150 ml (10 table spoons) of olive oil
• 15 gm (1 tbps) butter
• Pinch of salt
• Dash of vinegar

Suggested vegetables:

• Peppers (Capsicums)
• Celery
• Endives
• Fennel 
• Cabbage

Country Bread 

Directions:

1. Break the garlic into cloves and peel
2. Place the garlic in a saucepan and cover with the milk until the garlic is tender (the milk mellows the garlic)
3. Discard the milk and chop the garlic coarsely
4. Sprinkle the garlic with fine salty and then cut the garlic finely
5. Return the garlic to the saucepan and add the olive oil
6. Rise the salt off the anchovies and wash them in vineagar
7. Pat the anchovies dry, chop them up and add them to the oil and garlic
8. Return the pan to a low heat (the oil must not boil) and stir continuously (in order to not burn the garlic)
9. Stir until the mixture reaches an even consistency and after 20min, add the butter, stirring it in until it melts
10. Serve in an earthware pot over a flame. It is key that dip remains warm
11. Dip raw veggies or bread

Recommend wine: Nebbiolo dei Roeri

It can be hard to find fresh anchovies and generally they are sold preserved in salt, but if that is the case, just soak them in water to get rid of the excess salt. You might also have to take out the bone.