Salsa Verde Image Used Under Creative Commons License From The Food Dictator
Citizens, as part of my mighty Passover feast, the always gregarious TFD wishes to share with you a very special recipe, created specifically to complement the Spring leg of lamb that was the centerpiece of my holiday table!
As TFD digs the spicy, the best option proved to be a unique salsa verde for lamb, using ingredients not typically found in Italian salsa verde, but very true indeed to its spirit!
Green sauce is a family of cold, uncooked sauces based on herbs, including the spanish salsa verde, the French sauce verte, the italian salsa verde, the German Grüne Soße or Frankfurter Grie Soß (Frankfurt dialect), and the Argentinian chimichurri.
The Mexican salsa verde, though also called a “green sauce” is instead based on tomatillos.
The basic recipe is probably from the Near East and, as such, is probably at least 2,000 years old. Roman legionaries brought it to Italy, from where it was exported to France and Germany. Evidence suggests that it was introduced in Kassel by the Italian trading families Bolongaro and Crevenna around 1700.
A possible origin of the German variant are French Protestant immigrants emigrating to Kurhessen in the 18th century. The German variant uses a different mix of herbs, since Mediterranean herbs were not available in Germany at the time.
The ingredients are coarsely chopped, formerly by hand, now often in a food processor. In some regions, cubed bread is soaked in vinegar and blended with the other ingredients, which creates an emulsion somewhat similar to a vinaigrette. In other regions, there is no bread.
Salsa verde is used as a condiment or dipping sauce for meats, fish, poultry, or vegetables. It is traditionally served as an accompaniment to bollito misto or grilled or stewed fish.
My version – as previously noted – does include some herbs that are atypical to this sauce of sauces, but trust me on this: my recipe is PERFECT for lamb! 🙂 It is actually a hybrid of English mint sauce for lamb and salsa verde.
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