Anis, masculine noun (l’anis) = aniseed (pronounced a-neesse, or sometimes a-neee), but you never say un anis or des anis. If you want to say one aniseed, or lots of aniseed, you say une graine d’anis, or des graines d’anis (one aniseed seed, or lots of aniseed seeds).
Anisé = aniseed flavoured, such as all the Mediterranean apéritifs, pastis in the south of France, ouzo, raki, arak… each Mediterranean country has its version.
A nostalgic parenthesis: do the British among you remember aniseed balls? Do they still exist? The size of a small marble, deep rusty red, but when you sucked them they became white and your tongue went rusty red instead? And when you got right to the middle after hours of work, there was the prize: a single aniseed to crunch between two incisors! My favourites when I was little.
I bought some organic aniseed the other day, not for any particular purpose, but I have since been using it for making tisane (herbal tea), lovely, a teaspoonful with boiling water over it and a bit (or not) of honey. And you can eat the seeds when you’ve drunk the tea!
Aniseed is very different from fennel, or dill, or cumin, or caraway. I use it in this recipe for salmon: saumon en papillote à l’anis and it complements the fish perfectly.
You will need a piece of salmon per person. I prefer slices across the fillet (called filet in French), not through the whole fish with the bones (called a darne). A teaspoonful of aniseed per portion, and a little butter or cream.
Heat the oven to 180°. Prepare large squares of aluminium foil or greaseproof paper, and place a piece of salmon on each. Salt and pepper each portion and add the aniseed. Place a teaspoonful of butter or cream on top of the lot and close the papillote. Cook in the oven for about 12 minutes for a small portion, 15 minutes for a larger. Don’t overcook salmon, it must be moist.
Serve with new potatoes and some fresh crunchy celery. Salmon always looks so lovely with something pale green like celery or cucumber.
Bon appétit!
Salmon is incredible!!
sounds delicious! and perfect for my ‘eating lean meat and loads of veg/fruit’ sort of diet I’m trying to follow at the moment!!
We often cook salmon fillet en papillote just with lemon juice (or white wine), a little black pepper and some fresh dill chopped on top. I hadn’t thought of anis and must try it. And yes, I had forgotten all about aniseed balls but you’ve reminded me!
mmmmm…fish.. <3
Oooh, once again, one of my favourite recipe. Methinks we are kindred spirits Caroline! ;)
As a variation, I also use fennel seeds instead of aniseed. x
Kindred spirits, ha ha, more like kindred stomachs! I usually use fennel, but aniseed is so much more… aniseedy, very vibrant flavour.