All About Anchovies

• While canned tuna is a pantry staple, anchovy paste is a little less common. These simple culinary pastes, often found in a toothpaste-like tube alongside canned seafood at the grocery or specialty food store, typically contain anchovies, olive oil and salt. You can make your own paste by mashing salt- or oil-cured anchovies and mixing in a dash of olive oil. In addition to blending well with canned tuna, anchovy paste adds a savory saltiness to braises, sauces, sautees, soups and stews.

A Balance of Flavors

• Anchovy paste gives canned tuna a saltier, meatier and more complex flavor, but when working with a fish-on-fish pairing, balance is key. In most cases, about a spoonful of anchovy paste adds plenty of punch to a single 6- or 7-ounce can of tuna, whether your're making a simple tuna sandwich or a complex pasta dish. Start with this conservative amount and blend extra paste in to taste -- you can always add more, but you'll have a much harder time trying to take the paste out of your recipe.

Anchovy-Enhanced Dishes

• For a simple and timeless anchovy-and-canned-tuna pairing, anchovy paste gives classic tuna salad a nice kick, especially when paired with a squeeze or two of fresh lemon juice. Likewise, this fishy paste adds depth to tuna and potato salad. Spaghetti with olive oil, garlic, stewed tomatoes and canned tuna makes for a perennial alternative to traditional spaghetti with tomato sauce -- add anchovy paste and red pepper flakes when you toss in the tuna to amp up this dish's flavor. For an Italian-style tuna and caper spread, mix a can of tuna with mayo, a squirt of lemon juice, a few spoons of capers and parsley, the seasonings of your choice and about a spoonful of anchovy paste.

More Mixers

• Salads, spaghetti and spreads rank among the most common tuna-anchovy combos, but they're not the whole story. Because the flavors pair so well, feel free to experiment with anchovy paste in other dishes that feature canned tuna. Canned tuna lends itself to classic noodle salads, bean salads and nicoise salads, and as a topping for flatbread melts; adding anchovy paste to taste can add depth to all of these flavors. Tuna and anchovy paste even adds a punchy seafood flavor to store-bought ramen noodles.