salsa verde butter – add oomph to anything

This salsa verde butter came about by accident when I had leftover salsa verde from another recipe and mushed some with butter to sneak onto a chunk of crusty bread. Now I’m obsessed with it. You can make a log of it, wrap it in parchment and freeze it then just cut a chunk off when you need it for cooking. Use it to dress vegetables, stuff under the skin of a roast chicken or to spread thickly on bread. It will last for a week in the fridge.

We were lucky enough to find wild garlic recently, if you don’t have any, you can use chives instead.

Salsa verde butter

• 30g (1oz) flat leaf parsley, leaves and stalks
• 30g (1oz) basil, chives or wild garlic
• 1 heaped tablespoon capers
• ¼ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• 1 heaped teaspoon Dijon mustard
• ½ teaspoon honey
• 1-2 teaspoons white wine vinegar

Plus

• 250g (9oz) good salted butter, at room temp or sliced and softened for 20 seconds in the microwave

Equipment

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• food processor or mortar and pestle
• parchment

To make:

1. Make the salsa verde by putting all the ingredients in a food processor or mortar and pestle and crush to an almost smooth paste. Taste and add more honey, vinegar or salt as needed.
2. Add the softened butter to the salsa verde and mix before scraping onto a piece of parchment, squishing into a log, wrapping and scrunching the ends closed like a Christmas cracker.

To make salsa verde butter new potatoes

Leftover potatoes, even once dressed with the salsa verde butter are delicious roasted. In fact I’d make extra just so you can have them roasted a couple of days later.

Ingredients (serves 6)

• 1kg (2 ¼ lb) new or baby potatoes
• 1 teaspoon fine grain sea salta quarter of the above quantity of salsa verde butter

To make:

1. Cut any large potatoes in half but otherwise leave them whole. Put the potatoes into a large pan of boiling water with a teaspoon of sea salt and simmer for around 20 minutes until tender.
2. When the potatoes are tender, drain, return to the pan and add a couple of tablespoons of the salsa verde butter. Toss until it is melted, coating the potatoes then serve.

Read the other recipes I developed while working in Provence with Mirabeau wine here.