Going Green

This is a lovely little thing I came up with during one of my 'kitchen pootling' sessions, just playing about with things from the 'fridge and the cupboards, seeing what happens... Hugely successful in this case, this green sauce is divine with plain steamed vegetables; with new potatoes; with grilled meats (especially lamb, my goodness!) and, as we had it tonight, with fish (mackerel, filleted and fried in a knob of butter).  It has quite a summery feeling to it, but is thankfully not inherently reliant on good weather, as so many 'BBQ' favourites can be. While this is what we call it at home, I'm aware that it (maybe) doesn't sound terribly appetising, so I've tried very hard to think of a more poetic-sounding name, but I can't, so as 'green sauce' it must stay.  You do need a blender or a food processor for this recipe.

Green Sauce

I use a  vegetable peeler to peel away the strings from the celery, then cut it into chunks.

1 stick celery (and see above)
handful parsley
handful mint
1 tsp capers, rinsed
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
60ml olive oil
60ml rapeseed or sunflower oil
1 egg yolk

Put everything, bar the egg yolk, in the blender.  Whizz until a slightly creamy, smooth-looking sauce is formed, then add the egg yolk and blend again. Season with salt and pepper to taste, pour into a bowl and chill until needed.  Stir before serving, as the oil will separate slightly on keeping.

Cath xx

UPDATE: Just the other night I made a simple béchamel sauce for a pasta bake with salami and courgettes and, finding I hadn't made quite enough sauce, whisked in the remaining green sauce to increase the volume a little. Result? Totally divine  In fact, this may now be one of the bet uses for my little green goddess! x