Nadal 2024

Preparation:

First make the pesto sauce. Boil some water in a saucepan and add the basil and parsley leaves (without the stems). Boil them for 5 seconds, remove them and cool them in water and ice Once they are cold, dry them and put them in the blender with the Parmesan cheese, the garlic, the 100 ml of water mixed with the xanthan gum and the salt.

The gum helps to give stability to the emulsion and prevent it from breaking but you can make do without it.

Blend all that and, without stopping the blender, add the virgin olive oil a little at a time until it emulsifies. Remove the mix from the blender and if you like it really smooth, you can strain it.

To save the sauce and keep it green, cover it with cling film and aluminium foil. The absence of air and light ensures it keeps it colour better.

Leave the salted anchovies to soak a few hours, remove the bones, dry them on kitchen paper and leave them to season a few hours in the 100 ml of oil, the black pepper and the bay leaf.

Then dry the anchovies and prepare the brochettes. Wrap the anchovy fillets round each of the Mozzarella balls and stick a brochette in each one. Drizzle the pesto over the plate, place the brochettes on the sauce and put a few redcurrants on the side to give it a touch of colour.

Tip: if you want to save time and effort, you can use anchovies already prepared in oil.

Recipe courtesy of the Mercabarna Fish Market Wholesalers’ Guild