Rosemary and Anchovy Sauce

Sometimes people expect miracles from vegies. They are a wonderfood, but that doesn’t mean they can be boiled and plonked on a plate and then expected to carry the whole meal. The addition of a simple sauce can turn ‘vegies-as-an-afterthought’ into the superstar of the meal. Sauce, by which I really mean relishes, condiments, dressings and drizzles, can be made ahead and kept, ready to rescue dinner, elevate a snack to a supper. We have visited a few here already- tahini and yoghurt sauce, sambal, parsley oil, cucumber yoghurt. Check them out to have on hand as summer comes. Cold grilled or roasted vegies with tahini-yoghurt sauce are the best leftover you could hope to scrounge out of the fridge. Parsley oil drizzled over steamed green beans with a squeeze of lemon and a crumbled bit of feta is lunch or a late supper in a flash. The vegie part is simple, the sauce even easier.

The rosemary is out, flowering and shooting with the surge of spring. The young new growth is tender and not as strong in flavour as the older, woody stems. The volatile oils are strongest in the flowers, which can be steeped and warmed in oil to make fragrant salad dressings and drizzle over steamed carrots. Rosemary was known to be good for ‘weaknesses of ye brayne’- curing headaches, improving memory and as key ingredient in hair lotion. But it’s better to eat this than put it on our hair.

Anchovy and rosemary ‘sauce’.

I was wary of posting this, since it is not strictly vegetarian. But then neither am I. Anchovies can be substituted with capers (salted ones, soaked and rinsed), but the result is quite different. Maybe use a tablespoon.

You will need a mortar and pestle, or your chopping board and a good kitchen knife (meaning: a wide blade).

Into the mortar put

5 long anchovies, and the oil that drips off them

1 fresh clove of garlic

and pound and grind them into a thick paste.

Find a 5cm stalk of young rosemary and chop it finely, mincing it with the edge of the blade to squeeze out the oils. Then scrape this into the mortar.

Stirring with the pestle, squeeze in the juice of half a lemon and then slowly drip in olive oil, a few drops at a time until the consistency of a thick dressing. Taste and adjust as necessary, adding more lemon, oil or even a splash of sherry vinegar, which surprisingly helps mellow out the lemon.

Let it sit for a bit, to settle down. When it comes time to use it, you may need to stir it again, to emulsify. Refrigerate it to keep, but remember to leave time to let it melt (good olive oil sets in the fridge) when you want to use it.

How to use it? Drizzled over crispy iceberg lettuce, or blanched spinach, or dutch carrots, or slices of cooked beetroot.

In Italy it’s called Bagna Cauda, and used as a dip for crunchy raw vegetables, like carrots, radishes, cauliflower, cucumber and green beans.

Really, just spread it around.