Salsa verde, anchovy and all
Sharp, briny and green. The Italian one, not the tomatillo one.
At a Glance
Story
This is the Italian salsa verde, the traditional partner to bollito misto, the grand northern platter of boiled meats, where a sharp green sauce is exactly what all that richness wants. It has nothing to do with the Mexican tomatillo salsa verde beyond the name. The anchovies melt into the parsley and turn the whole thing savory and deep, which is why you leave them in.
Ingredients
- 1 cup flat-leaf parsleyfinely chopped (leaves and tender stems, tightly packed)
- 2 tbsp capersdrained and chopped
- 4 anchovy filletsminced (optional, but they are the point)
- 1 clove garlicgrated
- ½ lemonjuiced
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- salt and black pepper
Method
A sauce for people who think their steak is finished. It is chop and stir, no heat, and it makes almost anything off the grill taste like you tried harder than you did.
- Pile the chopped parsley, capers, anchovies and grated garlic into a bowl. Grating the garlic rather than chopping it keeps any raw hot bite from spiking the sauce later.
- Stir in the lemon juice and vinegar, then pour in the olive oil and mix to a loose, spoonable green. Season with salt, going easy, the capers and anchovies are already salty, and plenty of black pepper.
- Let it sit 10 minutes before serving so the flavors settle into each other. It keeps in the fridge for a few days and only gets better on day two. Spoon it over steak, grilled chicken, shrimp or roast potatoes, or dredge crusty bread straight through it.
More to cook
Crisp rice cakes and sausage in a ketchup glaze
Rice cakes fried until they crackle, then lacquered in ketchup and miso with the sausage.
A full course of Italian penicillin
Chicken soup's glamorous Italian cousin, with a spicy crumb and a cold lemon dollop.
Harissa shrimp broiled over a tray of greens
The greens go in first with half a cup of water, and the shrimp only arrive once the broiler takes over.
Salt and pepper dumplings straight from the freezer
Frozen potstickers and green beans, tossed at the last second in salt, sugar and more black pepper than seems wise.
Garlic noodles the way San Francisco does them
Two heads of garlic, plenty of butter and three bottles from the cupboard, done in the time it takes to boil the pasta.
Shrimp over creamed corn, and rather a lot of feta
Corn simmered soft in cream and butter, then blitzed until chunky and used the way you would use grits.
Creamy lemon spaghetti with a Sichuan pepper buzz
Crème fraîche, miso and lemon make the sauce, and toasted Sichuan peppercorns go in twice so your lips hum.
Chicken sausage and lemon, baked as a lasagna
A lasagna that went on holiday and came back with a tan and a lemon habit.
Pumpkin pasta with sausage and crisp sage
Tinned pumpkin, Gruyère and a sheet pan to crisp the lot.
Sausage lasagna spread thin for the crust
Lasagna with no layers, baked flat on a sheet pan, and an insult to nonnas everywhere.
Vodka rigatoni, baked till the tops crackle
Vodka sauce given a sheet pan, a jar of Calabrian chilis and a honey drizzle it did nothing to deserve.
Charred corn and halloumi panzanella with chili crisp
One bowl, mostly made in the morning, so the cook can sit down with the guests.
Chicken and zucchini meatballs under a feta sauce
Half the meatball is grated zucchini, which is the only reason a chicken meatball has any business being this juicy.
Dan dan noodles, served cold on purpose
The sesame and chile sauce is bossy enough to work as a dressing, so the noodles never need to be hot.
Zucchini parmesan, roasted not fried
All the comfort of the fried original, a fraction of the oil, and no pan spitting at you.