Green Sauce. A unique sauce in its essence!
The Piedmontese green sauce is based on: very fresh parsley, salted anchovies, and lots of garlic; a base of stale bread soaked in good wine vinegar; preferably red, but white is also fine. This “poor” version is the base of all green sauces. Whereas if we want a richer result, we need to add capers, pickled vegetables, fresh spring onions, and maybe some basil leaves.
With this delicious sauce, we can accompany the classic boiled meat, salt-cured tongue, tomini al verde cheese, and the exquisite anchovy sandwich.
Already the anchovies that arrived in the Piedmont countryside following the Salt Road were one of the few things that arrived from the sea, along with cod.
At the Friday market, the housewives bartered with cheese, various vegetables, or poultry, to get anchovies and sometimes even capers, although they later spread to some locations in our region.
Parsley was never missing in the garden, and if the season was fortunate, even other vegetables to preserve in vinegar, for which the green sauce was a carefully prepared sauce for the great boiled meat.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 1 Hour
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: No cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
As we wrote above, parsley is the main protagonist, and then salted anchovies, bread soaked in vinegar and oil are added…
- 1 bunch parsley
- 4 salted anchovies
- 3 cloves garlic
- Half stale bread (roll)
- 1 coffee cup vinegar
- 1 coffee cup pickled vegetables (Giardiniera)
- 1 tablespoon salted capers
- 2 hard-boiled eggs
- 1 cup olive oil
Tools
A mezzaluna chopper or a blender….
- Blenders
Steps
Naturally clean and prepare all the ingredients to have them all at hand
Cut the bread into pieces and soak it with vinegar. Then add the rest of the ingredients and blend, adding the oil a little at a time.
If you prefer to chop by hand, it will take a little more time but you will get a sauce that is not too fine, visibly more rustic and pleasant on the palate with its graininess. If you use an immersion blender, you can achieve the same result. If you prefer a creamy sauce, use a jug blender.
The result is a tasty sauce to accompany your boiled meats, your anchovy sandwiches, typical of Piedmont
The green sauce can be stored for a week in the refrigerator well covered with olive oil. If you want to eat two tasty eggs, fry them on top of two tablespoons of this delicious green sauce, which in this case would be better without hard-boiled eggs; but I assure you that eggs “al cirighet” are delicious!
