Green Sauce
By Thom Eagle
It’s easy to relegate parsley to a garnish or a little touch of green in soups and stews but it is a great ingredient in its own right, especially in winter when the leaves bulk up and have a real minerally tang. This sauce is a great way to use an abundance of parsley and other soft herbs, and is endlessly adaptable to whatever ingredients you have around, or to what you’re having it with – see some suggestions below. Try some in a sandwich with cold cuts, or a dressing for barley and roast vegetables, or on top of a piece of fish.
Ingredients
A big bunch of parsley, picked, washed well and dried (keep the stalks for stocks and stews – they freeze well!)
An handful of mint, dill or tarragon, picked, washed well and dried (optional)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, peeled and grated to a paste
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt & pepper
Optional extras: ½ a boiled egg, grated; 4 anchovy fillets, finely chopped; a few capers; a few cornichons, finely chopped; a handful of soft breadcrumbs; a little lemon zest; a chopped chilli…
Chop your herbs as finely as you like. You might want to keep larger pieces of leaf so it’s almost like a herb salad, or mince them very small for a smoother sauce. You can also blitz them in a food processor if you want!
Put them in a bowl with the mustard, vinegar and garlic. Mix well and then add enough oil to make a loose sauce.
Season with salt and pepper and have a taste. The sauce should be nice and punchy, so feel free to add more mustard and vinegar. Add any extras now and adjust the salt, remembering that some of the extras might be quite salty already (anchovies especially!).
You can keep the sauce in the fridge for a couple of days, but take it out about half an hour before you want to use it to loosen the oil and let the flavours express themselves.
