The beginning of a new series of films highlighting recipes from my new Book Roman recipes for modern cooks. The idea of a sharp green sauce served with fish is very common in the Mediterranean and in South America today yet few realise that the idea is an ancient one. A little light spicing with pounded green herbs and something sour and a little garlic. Its very simple but delicious. Most Salsa verde use parsley or coriander leading to a mono flavour which is always a little dull to my eyes so and the recipe in Apicius shows the way to a much more interesting blend of herbs.
6 Comments
You are so right about the modern habit of using only one herb. Many herbs are easy to grow in the UK and add new flavour notes.
When you mentioned lovage and rue not being commonly available, I immediately went looking for seed so I can try and grow some in the spring. What the seed company calls rue (Ruta graveolens) comes with quite dire warnings about toxicity and causing severe rashes — is this the same plant?
brilliant!
looks yum
My book is on the way, I am excited to try these out, unfortunately I currently have no ability for a garden of my own (fate willing I do at some point, I love your outdoor setup immensely) so I was thinking of adding in some good quality olive oil at the end to make it a looser sauce and then canning it in smaller portions to get the most out of the herbs, they can be a little pricey when having to buy as needed. Do you believe this would keep well if properly canned?
That looks delightful. While fish usually not in my budget range, I will make an exception for a bit of ancient luxury. 🙂 I will definitely follow your series. And I have so many questions! How do you decern which herb is meant to be used as a seed, and which to be used as a green? Do you have a good source for rue? Could you talk a bit about that lovely pan? I saw a video with an re-enacter who used 19th century cast iron pans for his recipes, so I would like to hear your experience with what a Roman pan must have been like.
Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge and experiences here