Green Sauce
Servings:
8 people
There are moments in everyone’s kitchen life that strike the eureka chord in the brain and unravel or reveal a whole new set of possibilities and ideas. The flavour discoveries of green sauce, or salsa Verde if you prefer is one of THOSE moments.But it is not really a recipe, it is much more of a feeling. Green sauce is all about what herbs you have to hand, what sort of vinegar you are using at the moment, your preferred mustard…… read on to discover one of our favourite dressings for venison steaks.
Ingredients
- 3 stems of mint
- 4 stems of basil
- 2 stems of tarragon
- 8 stems of parsley
- 2 stems of marjarom
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tsp capers (or 2 tsp of chopped nasturtium leaf)
- 1 tbsp french mustard
- salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp cider vinegar
- 150 ml good olive oil
- 2 anchovy fillets (optional)
Instructions
- Wash, dry, de stem and finely chop your herbs.
- Very finely chop the garlic and pop it in a mixing bowl. Add the mustard, a good glug of oil and the vinegar. Chop the capers and add these.
- Mix this all together to make a dressing and then add the chopped herbs to make a thick, but oily mixture. You can add a chopped anchovy or two if you like.
- Stir, season, add a little more oil if needs be and taste. Adjust seasoning, add more herbs if you need to, get the feel for the it. As the year changes mood, add the soft tips from thyme and rosemary herbs, fade the mint out of the mix. You will find you can make a version with almost any green herbs but Coriander and Sage are very tricky customers and for the most part not at all welcome at this particular party.
Recipe Notes
Above is a seasonal version with all the useful things like suggested quantities but this is one of those dressings / sauces / dips / marinades that kind of defies pinning down, as soon as you think you have it sussed something shifts and changes and you are lost again, but that is the point. Green sauce is all about what herbs you have to hand, what sort of vinegar you are using at the moment, your preferred mustard…… It is also about what you are going to serve it with – for smoked meats you want it punchy on the mustard, for delicately flavoured pan fried bass fillets you are going to want it to be lighter, more herbs & capers and, easy on the garlic.
If you have not made green sauce before you may find yourself sticking it on everything for a few weeks – that’s fine, it’s a very gregarious dressing, but after the initial enthusiasm wears off you will find more interesting and periodical places to use it best.
I often make it when I have bought lots of herbs for a certain recipe and want to use the rest up, or when I have a glut in the garden- it keeps very well un the fridge with a light layer of olive oil over the top in a jar for around 3 or 4 days – but it is at its pungent and fresh best around 20 minutes after mixing.
There are moments in everyone’s kitchen life that strike the eureka chord in the brain and unravel or reveal a whole new set of possibilities and ideas. The flavour discoveries of green sauce, or salsa Verde if you prefer is one of THOSE moments.But it is not really a recipe, it is much more of a feeling. Green sauce is all about what herbs you have to hand, what sort of vinegar you are using at the moment, your preferred mustard…… read on to discover one of our favourite dressings for venison steaks.
Ingredients
- 3 stems of mint
- 4 stems of basil
- 2 stems of tarragon
- 8 stems of parsley
- 2 stems of marjarom
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tsp capers (or 2 tsp of chopped nasturtium leaf)
- 1 tbsp french mustard
- salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp cider vinegar
- 150 ml good olive oil
- 2 anchovy fillets (optional)
Instructions
- Wash, dry, de stem and finely chop your herbs.
- Very finely chop the garlic and pop it in a mixing bowl. Add the mustard, a good glug of oil and the vinegar. Chop the capers and add these.
- Mix this all together to make a dressing and then add the chopped herbs to make a thick, but oily mixture. You can add a chopped anchovy or two if you like.
- Stir, season, add a little more oil if needs be and taste. Adjust seasoning, add more herbs if you need to, get the feel for the it. As the year changes mood, add the soft tips from thyme and rosemary herbs, fade the mint out of the mix. You will find you can make a version with almost any green herbs but Coriander and Sage are very tricky customers and for the most part not at all welcome at this particular party.
Recipe Notes
Above is a seasonal version with all the useful things like suggested quantities but this is one of those dressings / sauces / dips / marinades that kind of defies pinning down, as soon as you think you have it sussed something shifts and changes and you are lost again, but that is the point. Green sauce is all about what herbs you have to hand, what sort of vinegar you are using at the moment, your preferred mustard…… It is also about what you are going to serve it with – for smoked meats you want it punchy on the mustard, for delicately flavoured pan fried bass fillets you are going to want it to be lighter, more herbs & capers and, easy on the garlic.
If you have not made green sauce before you may find yourself sticking it on everything for a few weeks – that’s fine, it’s a very gregarious dressing, but after the initial enthusiasm wears off you will find more interesting and periodical places to use it best.
I often make it when I have bought lots of herbs for a certain recipe and want to use the rest up, or when I have a glut in the garden- it keeps very well un the fridge with a light layer of olive oil over the top in a jar for around 3 or 4 days – but it is at its pungent and fresh best around 20 minutes after mixing.
