Salsa Verde

The sun is shining – for now – and it’s time to break out the barbie and enjoy what might end up being the only few days of summer we get! In Italy, where this sauce (and its name literally does mean “green sauce”) originates, it’s traditionally served alongside boiled meats. But there’s something about a wonderful slab of something roasted or grilled – just catching and blackening on the outside, still moist and juicy within – that really makes its flavour sing.

Serve it with barely-seared fillet steaks, pork chops, tuna or lamb. Any sauce you have left over can be thinned down to make a superb salad dressing, dolloped over a jacket potato, brought to the table in a bowl for bread-dunking, or used as a super-speedy sauce for pasta. If you’re missing any of the herbs, don’t be afraid to ring the changes. Vegetarians can omit the anchovies, but the sauce won’t be quite the same without their salty, umami kick.

 

• 60g flat-leaf parsley
• 30g basil
• 30g mint
• 30g coriander
• 4 cloves garlic
• 4 anchovy fillets
• Zest of half a lemon
• 1 tbsp capers
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 6 tbsp olive oil

 

Roughly chop the herbs and place in a food processor with all the other ingredients except the olive oil. Pulse until finely chopped (you can also do this by hand or in a pestle and mortar, and many would argue that it’s more authentic that way). Then drizzle in the olive oil until the sauce reaches the desired consistency, and spoon into a 12oz hexagonal jar.

Salsa verde is best freshly made, but it will keep well in the fridge for about a week.