I’m going to keep this simple. Because I made it twenty minutes ago, and Jenny and I both said, “Why haven’t we written about this on DALS yet? It’s so easy.” So here it is, a good five-minute sauce that goes with just about anything. It’s awesome with grilled stuff, from fish (we had it last weekend with striped bass) to chicken [1] to steak to lamb chops [2]. It makes veggies [3] better, from corn salads to fresh tomatoes to roasted potatoes. It’s good on toast, or grilled bread. You can even mix it into scrambled eggs. It’s a pretty simple formula and you can improvise within it, if you’d like — using, say, cilantro instead of the more traditional parsley or, even, if you’re feeling crazy and lamb [2] is on the menu, mint. It’s basically a salsa verde, but what the version I make is a distant, less refined cousin. Our kids called it green sauce, and they don’t know it contains one anchovy. If that bothers you, too, you could leave it out, but I promise: even though you won’t taste it, you’ll miss it if it’s gone. — Andy
Poor Man’s Salsa Verde
1 scallion, roughly chopped
1 cup fresh parsley (or cilantro or mint)
10-12 large capers
1 anchovy
generous amount of salt and pepper
squeeze of lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
Process all ingredients except oil in a mini food processor or blender. Then, slowly add olive oil as you whirl and the sauce emulsifies. Remove to a small dish and spoon over fish. Or chicken. Or meat. Or veggies.