Salsa verde (green sauce) covers a wide variety of uncooked sauces made from chopped herbs. The Italian version is made with parsley and anchovies, the Spanish version with coriander (cilantro), the French version adds chervil, a German version involves seven herbs and then there’s British mint sauce and Argentinian Chimichurri. This is a vegetarian version to make with leftover soft herbs. It doesn’t really matter which herbs you choose – the sauce is always fresh and zingy and a great accompaniment for any BBQ meat, fish or roasted vegetables.
Wash 2 cups of soft herbs (I used tarragon, dill, mint, coriander (cilantro) and chives) and make sure they are as dry as possible. This will keep them nice and green. Place them in the bowl of a food processor and add 1 crushed clove of garlic, 1 tablespoon of rinsed capers, the grated zest of 1 lemon, the juice of ½ a lemon, ½ a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar and ⅓ of a cup of good quality olive oil. Process to a consistency you like. Season to taste with salt and use extra lemon juice if required. If you want a coarser salsa verde, you can chop everything finely by hand. If you have too much to use up in a couple of days, freeze the rest in ice blocks and use it to add to soups or braises.
*adapted from this recipe
michelle picker cooks 