Italian Salsa Verde With Parsley and Capers

(Giulia Scarpaleggia)

Italian Salsa Verde With Parsley and Capers

This is my mum’s salsa verde, a thick and vinegary sauce with a backbone of parsley. She always makes it “a occhio,” eyeballing the ingredients, yet she manages to give it the same texture and flavor every time.

You can use this sauce as part of an appetizer, spread on bread or served as a dip with a selection of raw and cooked vegetables. Its perfect balance of herbaceousness and acidity will powerfully stimulate your taste buds, preparing you for more food to come.

You can also serve your salsa verde with bollito misto, a selection of different boiled cuts of meat, from chicken to beef, or even with boiled or roasted fish.

This recipe will make enough to fill a medium-size jar. It will keep in the fridge for a few days.

Makes about 2 cups

• 1 egg
• 2 slices stale bread, crusts removed
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 cups water
• 1 large bunch fresh parsley
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 1 tablespoon capers, rinsed
• 2 anchovy fillets
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• Salt, to taste

Place the egg in a small saucepan, cover with water and bring it to a boil. When the water starts to boil, turn off the heat but leave the saucepan on the burner, cover with a lid, and let sit for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, rinse the egg under cold water, then peel it and set aside.

While the egg is cooking, soak the bread in the water and vinegar for a couple of minutes, until it becomes soft again, then squeeze out all the liquid. Crumble the bread in a bowl.

Chop the parsley with a sharp knife, along with the garlic, capers, and anchovy fillets. Add them to the crumbled bread. Crumble the egg and add it to the bowl, too.

Pour in the extra virgin olive oil, stir well, and season with salt.