Chef Isabel
Banderilla Vasca
Banderilla Vasca is the Basque bar's cold skewer: piparra peppers, olives, pickled onion, gherkin, and anchovy threaded so every bite lands sharp, briny, and salty.
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Pintxo de Anchoas del Cantábrico
Created by
A Basque pintxo built on one thing: a good Cantabrian anchovy laid over crisp bread, sweet piquillo, chopped egg, and garlic oil, with nothing loud enough to drown the fish.
Appetizers & Snacks
Spanish
Dinner Party
Quick Meal
Special Occasion
20 min
Active Time
15 min cook•35 min total
Yield12 pintxos (4 servings)
Pintxo de Anchoas del Cantábrico is Basque bar food, from the coast that knows the anchovy: a slice of bread, a strip of sweet piquillo, chopped egg, garlic-parsley oil, and one salt-cured Cantabrian fillet laid on top. Small, yes. Not careless. The anchovy is the dish, and everything else is there to hold it up.
The method that decides it is timing. Toast the bread, dry the piquillo, season the egg lightly, and assemble only at the end so the toast stays crisp and the anchovy keeps its clean, oily shine. Drown it in garlic, leave it sitting, or use a cheap hairy fillet, and you have salt on bread. That's another thing.
If you're far from Spain, no hace falta haber pisado España: buy the best salt-cured anchovies packed in olive oil you can find, even Portuguese or Italian, if they're better than the tin with the pretty label. They may be sharper and leaner than Cantabrian fillets, so use a little less garlic oil and let the piquillo do its sweet work. No piquillos? Jarred roasted red peppers, well dried, are the honest substitute. Raw pepper is not.
Build them in a row and serve them while the bread still answers under the teeth. This is quick cooking, but not lazy cooking. My Margin beside this one says only: the anchovy decides. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Pintxos belong to the Basque Country's bar culture, especially Donostia and Bilbao, where small bites are set on bread and often pinned with a palillo, the toothpick that gives pintxo its name. Cantabrian anchovies come from Bay of Biscay ports such as Getaria, Bermeo, Ondarroa, and Santoña; salting and packing them in oil preserved the spring catch and made a small fish rich enough to stand at the centre of a bar bite. Piquillo peppers from Navarra's Ebro larder and hard-boiled egg soften the anchovy's salt without hiding it.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
narrow baguette or barra de pan
Quantity
1 (about 240g)
cut into 12 slices, 1.5cm thick
Cantabrian salt-cured anchovy fillets packed in olive oil
Quantity
12 fillets (about 90g drained)
drained gently
jarred piquillo peppers
Quantity
6 (about 120g drained)
patted dry and cut into 12 wide strips
large eggs
Quantity
2 (about 100g peeled)
hard-boiled and finely chopped
garlic
Quantity
1 small clove (3g)
finely grated or pounded
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
80ml
divided
flat-leaf parsley leaves
Quantity
8g
finely chopped
fine sea salt (optional)
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
divided, only if needed
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| narrow baguette or barra de pancut into 12 slices, 1.5cm thick | 1 (about 240g) |
| Cantabrian salt-cured anchovy fillets packed in olive oildrained gently | 12 fillets (about 90g drained) |
| jarred piquillo pepperspatted dry and cut into 12 wide strips | 6 (about 120g drained) |
| large eggshard-boiled and finely chopped | 2 (about 100g peeled) |
| garlicfinely grated or pounded | 1 small clove (3g) |
| extra virgin olive oildivided | 80ml |
| flat-leaf parsley leavesfinely chopped | 8g |
| fine sea salt (optional)divided, only if needed | 1/4 teaspoon |
Equipment Needed
- •Small saucepan
- •Griddle, frying pan, or grill tray
- •Mortar or fine grater
- •Sharp knife
- •12 toothpicks or pintxo picks
Instructions
- 1
Cook the eggs
Put the eggs in a small saucepan and cover with cold water by 2cm. Bring to a steady boil, lower to a gentle bubble, and cook 10 minutes. Cool in cold water, peel, and chop the whites and yolks together quite fine. Stir in 1 teaspoon of the olive oil and only a pinch of salt; the anchovy will bring the rest.
- 2
Make garlic oil
Pound the garlic with a pinch of salt until it becomes a paste, then stir in 55ml olive oil. Let it sit 10 minutes while you prepare the rest, then stir in the parsley. The oil should smell clearly of garlic, not bite like raw garlic. If your clove is fierce, lift out the solid garlic before the oil goes on the pintxos.
Raw garlic in oil is for using the same day, not for keeping. If it waits more than 30 minutes, keep it covered in the refrigerator. - 3
Prepare anchovies
Lift the anchovy fillets from their oil and lay them on a plate. Do not rinse oil-packed fillets; you wash away the work you paid for. Pat the piquillos very dry and cut each pepper into two broad strips. The fish is the place to be stubborn: if a fillet tastes only of salt, the pintxo will too.
If you bought whole salt-packed anchovies, rinse off surface salt, soak 5 minutes in cold water, split away the bone, pat completely dry, and cover with olive oil for at least 10 minutes before using. Taste one; if it is still harsh, soak 5 minutes more. - 4
Toast the bread
Brush the bread slices with the remaining 20ml olive oil. Toast on a hot griddle, in a dry frying pan, or under the grill for 1 to 2 minutes per side, until the edges are crisp and the middle still has a little give. Too pale and it goes soggy; too hard and it fights the anchovy.
- 5
Build the pintxos
Lay one piquillo strip on each toast. Spoon about 2 teaspoons of chopped egg over the pepper, then lay one anchovy fillet along the top. Drizzle each with about 1/2 teaspoon of the garlic-parsley oil and pin it with a toothpick. Each pintxo should taste first of anchovy, then sweet pepper and egg.
- 6
Serve at once
Carry them out straight away, while the bread is still crisp and the oil is shining on the anchovy. If you're feeding guests, keep the pieces ready and build in small rounds. After 15 minutes the bread softens and the anchovy oil sinks in; not ruined, just less itself.
Chef Tips
- •Buy the anchovies from a shop with turnover, and take the refrigerated tin or jar when you can. Many good anchoas are semi-preserved and kept cold. A cheap fillet that is dry, furry, and brutally salty will not be rescued by good bread.
- •If you cannot find Cantabrian anchovies, use the best salt-cured anchovies packed in olive oil you can get, Portuguese or Italian included. Do not use boquerones en vinagre, the vinegar-marinated white anchovies. Good dish, wrong pintxo.
- •Pimientos del piquillo from Lodosa are the right pepper here: sweet, soft, and already roasted. Jarred roasted red peppers are the honest substitute, but dry them well because they are usually wetter and less pointed in flavour.
- •Count one anchovy per pintxo. Pésalo, no lo adivines applies even to a small bite: too much egg or garlic oil and the fish disappears.
- •Pour txakoli, a sharp young Basque white, or a dry sidra with these. The acid cuts the oil and salt cleanly.
Advance Preparation
- •Boil the eggs up to 2 days ahead and keep them unpeeled in the refrigerator. Peel and chop them the day you serve.
- •Drain and cut the piquillos up to 1 day ahead. Keep them refrigerated between paper towels so they do not soak the toast later.
- •Make the garlic-parsley oil up to 4 hours ahead. Keep it refrigerated if it waits more than 30 minutes, use it the same day, and discard leftovers because raw garlic in oil should not linger.
- •Slice the bread ahead if you like, but toast and assemble close to serving. This pintxo is at its best in the first few minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 155g)
Calories
420 calories
Total Fat
24 g
Saturated Fat
4 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
20 g
Cholesterol
115 mg
Sodium
1630 mg
Total Carbohydrates
36 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
15 g
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