Anchovies arrived in our region [Piedmont, ed.] thanks to some Piedmontese who, to evade the very high taxes of importing French salt along the "salt route", transported the precious material inside barrels, hidden under a layer of anchovies, so as not to be taxed at customs. Once they crossed the border they had to find a way to pay for the anchovies, and so they started selling them in our region, achieving real success. With the birth of the anchovy trade, the figure of the anchovy maker was born or, as it will be called in the Piedmontese dialect, the anciuè. Originally from Val Maira, the anciuè, in the period when there was little work in the fields, dedicated themselves to the trade of salted anchovies, transporting them with their characteristic "blue caruss" and selling them door to door.

Ingredients to prepare anciuè al verd:

Two ounces of salted anciuè, wine vinegar, a bunch of parsley, 2 cloves of garlic (remove the core), a spicy chili pepper (optional), a few capers (optional), extra virgin olive oil to taste, crumbs of a sandwich.

Remove the salt from the anchovies, wash them with vinegar and let them drain, remove the bones, wash the parsley using only the leaves, soak the bread in a little vinegar. With the mezzaluna chop the garlic, the chilli pepper, the capers, the parsley leaves, the crumbs, I also add some anchovy fillets. Mix with the oil, put the greens with the anchovies in a container of your choice.

Credits: Anna Rosa Ruffa, Friends at the bar, Facebook® group