A template or rough guide, rather than a recipe, for this wonderfully versatile, simple Piedmontese green sauce that goes with anything
If we have been careful through the week, and it is not the tight end of the month, we buy fish on Friday – a whole bream or a bass – then bake it on a bed of potatoes. It is one of my favourite meals to shop for: the long-winded chat with my fishmonger, followed by the sniffing out of bright eyes, red gills and winking scales; the haggle, slap and wrap. It’s also a favourite meal to prepare. While it bakes in the oven, the sound of the skin tightening and the potatoes crisping travels through the oven door. I pour myself another glass and make the the salsa verde – or green sauce.
I have been making salsa verde for years: garlic, capers, anchovies and herbs that are chopped, pounded or blended until they look like grass cuttings, then loosened with olive oil and sharpened with vinegar. While I was aware of the traditional Piedmontese recipe for bagnet verd, which includes breadcrumbs soaked in vinegar (and conscious that others add egg yolks to theirs), I was, until recently, set in my ways, and usually happy with the outcome, give or take the odd dud. Then one Friday, happy with wine, music and that moment, I added a crustless slice of bread crumbled and sprinkled with red wine vinegar to the green rubble. As you can imagine, the addition of breadcrumbs changes the colour, especially if you are doing it by hand, making it like herringbone twill. It also plumps up the consistency, turning it from a grassy, shiny mass to something pudgy, softer. The flavour is also gentler – capers, anchovy and herbs are a forthright, even rude combination, salty and searing – the breadcrumbs soften everything.
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