Mr. All-Around

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 to steak to lamb chops. It makes veggies 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 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.