Salsa Verde - The Perfect Accompaniment For White Fish

Salsa Verde - The Perfect Accompaniment For Any White Fish

I first came across this on a holiday in the Canary Islands. This was 1991 so way before the one we were on had been developed. The place we ate in was in a village at the end of an unmade up road. Just a few fisherman's cottages and a restaurant. You ate what ever had been caught that day. This is one of their sauces and with fish that fresh, it tastes absolutely incredible. Hopefully, like everything on this blog, this is a great example of how to create the most amazing taste with very little time or effort.

Ingredients (enough to accompany 2 fillets of fish) :

The yolk of 1 fresh egg

1 teaspoon of lemon juice

1 teaspoon of powdered mustard

100ml of olive oil

1 crushed clove of garlic

A hand full of the following fresh herbs in equal proportion; Chives, Dill and Parsley (Chervil if you can get it)

2 fillets of fresh fish cooked your way. 

The work:

Start by separating the yolk from the whites in an egg. Put the yolk into a mixing bowl. Add your lemon juice and mustard and whisk gently together until combined. Step up the pace with your whisking, and while doing it, pour a thin, steady stream of the olive oil. Make sure it is all being thoroughly combined as you go. If need be, pause your pouring to allow you to catch up. You do not want globules of oil in the middle of this. You will find the consistency will begin to thicken. Congratulations! You have just made mayonnaise!

To finish its transformation into Salsa Verde, rinse your fresh herbs in some cold water and finely chop them up. Stir the herbs and the finely chopped garlic into the mayonnaise and it's done. You can refrigerate it and it will keep for up to a day if you want to prepare it in advance of using it. If you do this and find when you come back to it the oil has started to separate from the egg, that's nothing a brisk stir with a fork can't put right.

Dish up a big dollop of it on some pan fried or baked cod loins or salmon steaks. Or a nice fillet of mullet, sea bass or monk fish. Just a salad and some new potatoes on the side. That is all you need.