Saffron Mayonnaise | All Things Sicilian and more

Sauces are one of the easiest ways to expand your Christmas repertoire and brighten up your Christmas without changing the core of your menu. Whether your table is seafood-focused, meat-heavy, vegetarian, or a mix of all three, a thoughtfully chosen sauce can bring freshness, complexity and colour.

Because one of the books I’ve written is Sicilian Seafood Cooking—and because my blog is called All Things Sicilian And More—many readers assume that my Christmas table must be strictly Sicilian. It’s a lovely assumption, but like most Italian traditions, the reality is far more regional, varied, and personal.

Buon Natale, and happy cooking!

What Do Italians Eat at Christmas? It Depends Where You Live

Italy has no single “national” Christmas menu.
Food traditions shift dramatically from region to region, and even from town to town.

When I lived in Trieste (in the north), Christmas Day always began with brodo—a clear, comforting broth that signalled the start of a long, leisurely lunch.

Years later, celebrating Christmas in Sicily, the menu was completely different. First courses would be gnucchiteddi (tiny hand-rolled gnocchi) or delicate ravioli di ricotta scented with cinnamon, sugar, and local cheese.

RAVIOLI DI RICOTTA

GNUCCHITEDDI

QUADRUCCI IN BRODO, Squares of home-made Pasta in Broth

Quadrucci – squares of him made pasta with herbs.

BRODO DI GALLINA (Chicken Broth)

GNOCHETI DE GRIES (as called in Trieste), GNOCCHETTI DI SEMOLINO (Italian), SEMOLINA Small GNOCCHI

Even within Sicily—an island smaller than Tasmania—the diversity is astonishing.
Christmas in Ragusa always meant scacce: layered, folded pastries filled with vegetables, ricotta, sausage, tomato, or combinations of all three. They remain a staple of festival tables.

Would Sicilians in Australia be making scacce for Christmas? Perhaps some from Ragusa will—but most Sicilian-Australian menus are shaped by a mixture of regional traditions, personal favourites, and of course the Australian summer.

SCACCE

What I Cook at Christmas

People often ask what I’ll cook for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. The honest answer: I rarely know until the last minute.

On Christmas Eve, I usually follow Italian custom and eat fish.
On Christmas Day, I like to cook something special that I haven’t made for a while—perhaps pasta with sea urchin (ricci), bottarga, squid ink, crayfish, or crab.

There are many posts on this blog that delve into Christmas dishes from Sicily and other regions of Italy—feel free to explore and adapt them for your own festive table.

But this post is not about planning an entire menu. Instead, it’s about something more universal – Sauces.

Whatever you’re serving this year—seafood salad, roast turkey, grilled vegetables, barbecued meat— a fresh, vibrant sauce can instantly transform a familiar dish into something festive.

Essential Sauces and Dressings for Christmas

Below are some of my favourite sauces—Italian, Sicilian, and beyond—that can brighten any Christmas spread.

Highlight sauces include:

Salsa d’Agresto – medieval green grape and nut sauce for roasted meats
Salsa Verde – Italian parsley, anchovy and caper sauce for vegetables, fish or cold meats
Sicilian Sarsa di Chiappareddi – capers, anchovies and olive oil for grilled fish
Bagna Cauda – warm garlic and anchovy dip for mixed vegetables
Salmoriglio – Sicilian lemon and oregano dressing ideal for BBQ seafood
Homemade Mayonnaise – classic, saffron or tuna versions for cold dishes
Romesco Sauce – roasted peppers and almonds for fish and vegetables
Salsa Saracina – sweet-and-savoury Sicilian sauce with olives, pine nuts and saffron
Hot Mint Sauce – mint, cumin and vinegar for lamb or goat

Use these sauces to lift any Christmas meal—seafood salad, roast turkey, summer vegetables or a simple backyard BBQ. A fresh sauce can transform your festive table.

Salsa d’Agresto (Green Grape Sauce)

A medieval sauce that predates the widespread use of lemons. Traditionally, it relies on the tart juice of unripe grapes (agresto).

It dates pre-Renaissance time and went out of fashion because lemons became popular in cooking and superseded the use of green grape juice. The recipes suggested that the juice of the green grapes can be extracted by using a mouli or a juicer.

Walnuts and almonds are blanched to remove as much skin as possible. My sources indicated that there may have been more walnuts used than almonds in these sauces.

Today you can substitute: verjuice or dry white wine

Key ingredients:

blanched walnuts and almonds
onion, garlic, parsley
breadcrumbs for body
a touch of sugar
enough agresto/verjuice to form a soft paste.

Onions, garlic and parsley and a few breadcrumbs are pounded together with the nuts. Add a bit of sugar, some chopped parsley and sufficient grape juice to make the amalgamated ingredients soft – like a paste.

Heat these ingredients and add a little broth as the sauce will thickened because the bread crumbs.

Warm gently and thin with broth as needed.
Perfect for roast meats, especially pork, chicken or turkey.

SALSA D’AGRESTO

Salsa Verde – Italian Green Sauce

Salsa verde can be used to jazz anything up – vegetables, roasts, cold meats, smoked fish, crayfish etc. I sometimes use it to stuff hard boiled eggs (remove the yolk, mix with salsa verde and return it to the egg).

Parsley, anchovies, capers, green olives and good olive oil form the backbone of this lively sauce.

SALSA VERDE – ITALIAN GREEN SAUCE

Sarsa di Chiappareddi (Sicilian Caper and Anchovy Sauce)

There may be times when an accompanying sauce for fish cooked in various ways will bring you greater compliments.

Salted capers need to be soaked and rinsed well before use.

The sauce is called sarsa di chiappareddi in Sicilian. Salsa con capperi in Italian.

A beautiful sauce for grilled, baked or fried fish.
What makes it special: high-quality extra virgin olive oil, capers and anchovies from Sicily a fresh, herbal perfume released the moment cold sauce meets hot fish.

Simple, quick, and always impressive.

SARSA DI CHIAPPAREDDI

Bagna Cauda – The Piedmontese “Hot Bath”

Bagna Cauda, translated as “hot bath,” is a dip for any combination of firm vegetables – cooked or uncooked.

A warm, deeply savoury dip from Piedmont. Traditionally served in a communal pot surrounded by:

raw or cooked fennel
carrots
celery
cauliflower
peppers

Made from:

garlic
anchovies
butter
sometimes a little olive oil

It is a hot sauce and it is most essential to use quality, extra virgin, olive oil. This is especially important for cold sauces, – when the cold sauce hits the hot food, the fragrance of the oil will be strongly evident.

BAGNA CAUDA

Salmurrigghiu / Salmoriglio – Sicilian Citrus-Herb Dressing

Such a simple Sicilian dressing and a Sicilian staple.

Just: extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, oregano and most times a touch of garlic.

It’s sublime on grilled fish, meat, or vegetables—especially anything coming off the BBQ.

SALAMURRIGGHIU – SALMORIGLIO (salmorigano)

Home-Made Mayonnaise – Classic, Saffron, or Tuna

A good mayonnaise can rescue almost any cold dish.

See:
MAYONNAISE and SAFFRON MAYONNAISE
INSALATA RUSSA
CHICKEN LAYERED WITH TUNA AND EGG MAYONNAISE
VITELLO TONNATO

Salsa Romesco – Spanish Almond and Pepper Sauce

Originally from Tarragona in Catalonia, though many mistakenly think it is Roman because of the name.

Excellent with:

This sauce is usually associated as a condiment for shellfish and fish. It is also good with eggs and grilled and roasted vegetables (especially cold, left over ones that need dressing up the next day).

Recently, I have been to two restaurants and this sauce was presented with cold asparagus.

Made from:

roasted red peppers
garlic
almonds
paprika
olive oil

Smoky, sweet, and a crowd-pleaser.

SALSA ROMESCO

Salsa Saracina (Saracen Sauce)

A unique Sicilian cold sauce that blends:

green olives
pine nuts
sultanas
saffron

Often used with fish, but versatile enough for grilled vegetables, cold meats, or even room-temperature salads.It is sweet-and-savoury in the most Sicilian way.

I use it for many hot or cold foods.

SALSA SARACINA (Saracen sauce)

Green Olive and Anchovy Sauce for Roast Duck

One of the times I roasted a duck I made this special sauce for it, and it tasted great.

green anchovies
parsley
tender celery heart
garlic
stock and wine added to the roasting pan and reduced in the pan made an excellent gravy.

A rich, aromatic gravy that lifts any roast beautifully and while you are at it, it includes the recipe for cooking the duc

ANATRA A PAPAREDDA CU L’ULIVI

Hot Mint Sauce (Casa Moro)

This is a recipe from Sam and Sam Clark’s Casa Moro, The Second Cookbook. I first had this sauce at a friend’s house accompanying roast goat. I too had this book.

it is a Middle Eastern-inspired sauce that pairs beautifully with:

roast goat
lamb
grilled meats

Made with:

mint
cumin
garlic
red wine vinegar or balsamic

Vibrant, earthy, and excellent for outdoor summer meals.

HOT MINT SAUCE

There are many other posts on this blog that delve into Christmas dishes from Sicily and other regions of Italy. Whether you live in a cold or hot country explore the content and adapt them for your own festive table.

Broth, boiled rice, boiled chicken, steamed white fish are considered to be mangiare in bianco – literally translated, food in white, in other words cooked plain, without colour and hence, without spices and is considered the perfect food for those of us who are feeling unwell.

I can remember my then my teenage son and I being violently ill after eating prawns in a restaurant in Puglia, in southern Italy. We were travelling from Trieste and making our way to Ragusa. In Australia, for this type of ailment the common procedure is to stop eating; he and I did just that.

When we arrived in Ragusa, my aunties, zia Mariannina and zia Niluzza were horrified that we had gone so long without food (six hours) and immediately wanted to feed us. Food seems to be considered the cure for everything by Sicilians. Salvo, my cousin’s son, had just graduated from medical school but was out when we arrived. We were looking forward to his return, thinking he too would agree with our decision to fast as a remedy, but this was not the case – when Salvo arrived, he immediately confirmed the aunties’ recommendation to begin the cure by eating in bianco.

Vindicated, the aunties stood around grinning. Salvo seemed very surprised that in Australia the cure for an upset stomach was to stop eating. Soon after, we were presented with riso in bianco (boiled rice with a little salt and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil). My son and I continued to eat an array of different foods cooked in bianco for a couple of days and the symptoms abated, either by the passage of time or by the diet.

The other prescribed remedy was cotognata (quince paste) and there was plenty of cotognata in their pantry – homemade, of course.

I bought this fillet of fish in the photo as ‘Rockling’ and I was told that it has come from Tasmania; if I can I prefer to buy local fish, but Tasmania is not far from Melbourne and this fish seems to be more plentiful in their waters.

Because of its mottled pink and orange skin I think that it is Pink Ling. Rock Ling and Pink Ling are closely related and apparently it is often sold in Melbourne under the name ‘Rockling’; the grey skinned variety is more sustainable than the pink variety.

As you can see the fish has thick, firm, white flesh and it is well suited to most cooking methods; I chose to cook it in bianco. Even if you are in perfect health you can enjoy fish in bianco because this method of cooking will enhance the delicate, fresh taste of both these fish.

If your digestive system is not as good as it should be, Italians (this includes Sicilians) would only dribble a little extra virgin olive oil and a little lemon juice onto the fish, but for those of us who are healthy an excellent accompanying sauce is maionese – egg mayonnaise.

In this recipe the fish is poached just below boiling point and retains its delicate flavour and moisture. It can be eaten hot or cold.

The fish needs to be cooked in a pan with a lid and in a single layer to prevent the liquid from evaporating.

INGREDIENT

white fleshed fish, estimate 1 portion per person (200-220g each)

onion, 1 cut in half

salt to taste

fresh parsley or a little celery (complete with leaves) for the poaching water.

PROCESSES

Place the onion, parsley (or celery) and a little salt in a pan, which will accommodate the fish.

Position the fish on top of the vegetables; add a little salt and sufficient water to barely cover the fish.

Cover with a lid and cook on a very low temperature (just below boiling if possible) until the fish is cooked to your liking.

Remove the fish from the poaching liquid and coat with a drizzle your finest extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice. Save the stock for one other time and discard the vegetables.

MAIONESE (Mayonnaise)

Italians make mayonnaise with egg yolks, a little lemon juice and good quality extra virgin olive oil. My mother has never used a food processor to make mayonnaise; the mayonnaise will absorb about 1 cup of oil.

The way my mother makes mayonnaise:

Place 2 egg yolks (removed from the fridge – at room temperature) in a mixing bowl with a pinch of salt.

Use a wooden spoon and always moving in the same clockwise direction, stir the yolks and while stirring drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil slowly into the yolks until creamy. Ensure that the previously added oil has been incorporated completely before adding additional oil.

Add a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice once all of the oil has been incorporated.

I use a food processor or an electric wand to make mayonnaise:

Mix 1 egg with a little salt in the blender food processor, or in a clean jar (if using the wand).

Slowly add 1–1 ½ cups of extra virgin olive oil in a thin, steady stream through the feed tube while the blender or processor is running, Before adding additional oil, ensure that the oil, which has previously been added has been incorporated completely.

Add a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice when the mayonnaise is creamy. If you are not making the traditional Italian version, it is common to add vinegar instead of lemon juice and a teaspoon of Dijon mustard.

As an alternative, the Spaniards like to add a little saffron (pre-softened in a little warm water). Add this after the mayonnaise is made.

Saffron Mayonnaise:

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Tag: Saffron Mayonnaise

SAUCES for meat, fish and vegetables to brighten up your Christmas