Salsa Verde on Vietnamese Cobbler (Fish)
A classic Italian sauce, full of wonderful fresh flavours – parsley, capers, lemon zest, olive oil. It can be served on meat, fish or vegetables or used as a wonderful dipping sauce for bread, in fact it is so good, I’ve been known to dip into the remnants and lick it off my fingers.
Pure decadence!
Salsa Verde
A classic Italian sauce, full of wonderful fresh flavours – parsley, capers, lemon zest, olive oil. It can be served on meat, fish or vegetables or used as a wonderful dipping sauce for bread, in fact it is so good, I’ve been known to dip into the remnants and lick it off my fingers.
Pure decadence!
Use really fresh herbs, whether you’re
using parsley or a combination of other
herbs – chives, chervil, tarragon, basil
and parsley. Be sure to cut them very
finely with a really sharp knife. You
won’t get the best flavour or colour using
a dull knife because it will bruise the herbs
rather then cutting them cleanly.
Ingredients
½ (approx 25g) cup finely chopped parsley (or a combination of fresh herbs)
1 tablespoon capers, drained and chopped
1 small garlic clove, finely chopped (if you don’t like the taste of raw garlic, sauté
the garlic just until soft in a little of the olive oil, allow to cool before adding)
zest of 1 lemon, finely chopped or grated
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
A grinding of salt and lots of fresh pepper
½ cup (140 ml) olive oil
Mix well, check seasoning (be careful about adding too much salt, the capers are already salty) and allow to stand at room temperature for the flavours to blend.
Add the lemon juice just before serving (adding lemon juice sooner causes the herbs to darken and lose their lovely deep green colour).
Other additions you might experiment with are chopped anchovy fillets, chopped shallots or even finely chopped hard boiled egg. You might even try all three together.
Here (pictured above) we’ve used the Salsa Verde on Vietnamese Cobbler – a fish similar to thin fillets of cod. The fish was dipped in egg and then fine bread crumbs*, shallow fried and served with mashed potatoes and green beans.
A cold glass of beer (lager) rounds off the meal beautifully. Bon appétit!
*Use the Japanese bread crumbs – Panko – they are very different from normal bread crumbs and give a really great crispy crunch.