SALSA VERDE ( Green Sauce – serve with boiled meats and corned beef)

My take on corned beef

I have a Brazilian friend who is still discovering the delights of Anglo–Saxon food in our Australian food culture and a true blue, born and bred, Australian friend who misses his mother’s cooking. They are coming to dinner tonight, so as a surprise I am cooking them corned beef (I managed to buy low salt, low saltpetre). Probably I have not eaten this since my English Mother in law last cooked it for me, and she died a long time ago.

Of course there will be the boiled vegetables and mustard. And I will present it with some of the homemade chutney that another friend has given me. But it is so very much like bollito (boiled meat) that it could be accompanied with a little salsa verde on the side – chopped parsley, capers, green olives, boiled eggs, extra virgin olive oil, anchovy and a little white bread with vinegar to thicken it as much as I like and on this occasion I want it thin.

Part of me remains Italian to the core. Will I sauté the carrots in a little onion with dry marsala and raisins?  Or will I present it with sweet and sour pumpkin? ( Sicilian and called FEGATO DI SETTE CANNOLI).

Sicilian 277 Pumpkin w Vinegar mint sugar cinnamon.tif.p

 

Of course I will add peppercorns, a carrot, onion and some celery to the beef whilst it cooks, after all this is what I add when I make carne in brodo (meat cooked in broth). I will add the cloves to the broth (Sicilians use cloves in their savoury cooking) but I will not add the malt vinegar or the sugar.

Is it still corned beef?

 

See:  SALSA VERDE (2015)

 

 

3 thoughts on “SALSA VERDE ( Green Sauce – serve with boiled meats and corned beef)”

  1. Recipe looks great . Will try it over the Christmas period . We rediscovered the terrific taste of salsa verde on our recent holiday in Sicily. Would love to have your recipe for Carne in Brodo in another blog at some stage. We thoroughly enjoyed it at Casa del Brodo in Palermo , which itself has an interesting history involving feeding the inhabitants during a deadly epidemic at the beginning of the 20th century.
    Ps. Loving using your book on Sicilian seafood cooking.
    Susan
    Sunshine Coast

    1. Yes, I have been to La Casa del Brodo in Palermo – I enjoyed the food and the old decor.
      The best brodo is made from a mixture of beef and chicken. Use stewing type beef (or yearling) with bone. I like to use shin (for example osso buco) as it is lean. Most Southern Italians will tell you to use ‘petto’ – breast, ribs, but I find this too fatty.
      Follow my chicken soup recipe but substitute some chicken with beef. Cook for longer than brodo di gallina . Drain the meat.
      Cook it the day before, once it is cool place in fridge and skim the fat off the next day. Taste it and if you wish to concentrate the flavours evaporate some more. Experiment – it’s rewarding to do so. Saluti.

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