Smooth rich olive oil. Fruity pitted olives. Liberal handfuls of all your favorite herbs. While some may cite cacio e pepe, pasta primavera, or any other pasta dish as their fave, this Italian salsa verde is my go-to when I want to bring the flavors of the Mediterranean to the table.
Traditionally known as “green sauce,” Italian salsa verde is filled with fresh chopped herbs like basil and parsley and plenty of garlic for added flavor. Luckily, we got to sample the sauce in all its glory when we visited Alison and Jay Carroll at their Joshua Tree home.
Alison Carroll’s Italian Salsa Verde
Typically, the popular Mexican version of salsa verde has a tomatillo base, which brings forward a less acidic, more tomato-like flavor. This salsa focuses more on mellow-toned ingredients like green olives and rich olive oil. The Carroll’s leaned on the rich and smooth olive oil that they produce for Wonder Valley to bring this Italian salsa verde to the next level.
Alison’s recipe is perfectly simple and serves as a colorful addition to any table. As she says of the sauce, “My salsa verde always has a variety of fresh herbs, always something salty, and always Wonder Valley olive oil.”
Convinced? Let’s take a look at this simple, but game-changing, recipe.
Description
Full of flavor with fresh herbs, this salsa verde goes well on just about everything.
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped parsley
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped mint
- 1/4 cup coarsely chopped dill
- 1 clove garlic, finely minced
- 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon cut up lemon preserve
- 1 cup pitted green olives, the best you can find
- Wonder Valley Olive Oil!
- Kosher Salt
- Cut all your herbs up, as fine or rough as you want. In a shallow bowl pile the herbs to one side and put the garlic and lemon juice on the other side to macerate for a bit.
- Cut up a bit of lemon preserve, I always have a jar going in the fridge and use just the peel for it. Add to the bowl.
- Break up the olives with your fingers, it looks nicer when they are torn rather than chopped in my opinion and the irregularly of size is nice.
- Stir it together and POUR on the olive oil, I did at least a cup but it should be a really loose sauce and easy to spoon. Adjust with salt if needed. Goes amazing with roasted vegetables and grilled chicken!