How to Make Salsa Verde for Grilled Salmon

Spring and summer eats, are to me, all about a celebration of those green things that are just starting to poke out of the ground. Simple, light food with simple clean tastes that are 180 degrees removed from the substantiality of winter fare.

Here’s a recipe for a simple green sauce that makes use of whatever good fresh green herbs you’ve got hand. This salsa verde is classic with fresh salmon steaks or fillets, cooked easily on the grill, under the broiler or in the sauté pan with nothing more than a light sprinkling of salt and pepper to distract the pungent freshness of the sauce.

A meal like this, though prepared lovingly and from scratch, also wins points for being table-ready within a half an hour!

Easy Salsa Verde for Grilled Salmon

There is no ‘one’ recipe for salsa verde – as to stick strictly to a recipe would be sort of missing the point of eating what’s good, fresh and green – and preferably from a garden near you! The only constants are fresh herbs, olive oil, lemon juice, capers, anchovies and a little salt and pepper.

• A generous ½ cup of mixed herbs, chopped. Use a combination of a few of any of the following - basil, tarragon, flat leaf parsley, scallions, chives, chervil, marjoram and oregano
• 3 Tbls of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tbls of fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tbls of capers
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 or 3 anchovy fillets (if you don’t have or don’t want to use anchovies, add an extra Tbls of capers above.)
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Roughly chop the herbs. Although you could do this in a food processor, the texture is better when you do this by hand.
2. Add the remaining ingredients to the salsa and stir to mix well. Taste, and add salt and freshly cracked pepper as needed.

Serve over simply prepared salmon.