6/5: Sicilian Green Sauce

Sicilian Green Sauce is an Italian Salsa Verde of olive oil infused with crushed fresh herbs and garlic. It is great stirred into soups, drizzled on pasta, as a dip for raw vegetables, as a dressing for cooked vegetables or spread thinly on bread. Pretty useful stuff really and the three herbs; Parsley, Basil & Mint, that are needed for it are all ready and willing in the garden.

• A fist full each of fresh Basil, Parsley and Mint
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2-3 tsp pickled capers
• Sea salt
• Olive oil
• a little lemon zest & a squeeze of lemon

Grind the herbs, garlic, capers and a pinch of salt with enough olive oil to make a fluid paste. Stir in a little lemon juice and zest to taste and it is ready tpo use.



The original recipe came from Claudia Roden's book Mediterranean Cookery.  Variations: There are many variations for this sauce. To the basic herbs oil and garlic some add capers, anchovies, mustard, lemon juice and even rocket. This recipe is my favourite combination, kept fairly simple to dress pasta such as this Cappelletti, small pasta parcels these ones are stuffed with ham.



Storage
It stores well in jars; pour into sterilised jars seal tightly and store in a cool dark place. Once opened keep in the fridge where it will last 3-6 months.