What to do with all that parsley: salsa verde piccante

I've so enjoyed the fine, warm weather over the weekend. Mr H and I made it to the park twice, along with half of Auckland so it seemed! We saw lots of sheep, cows, calves and even a pheasant. I may break out the bbq next... nah, let's not get too carried away! But I did sow the first of my summer crops for my wee vege garden (better late than never, I say). At this time of the year, I'm full of optimism about the things I'm going to grow over summer. The ZooDoo has been delivered and the garden will soon be well fed with fresh compost in the hope that it will make my veges grow big and juicy.

I'm cheating with my parsley and have bought a few of those supermarket parsley plants that I will pot up. This will give me a good head-start with the parsley at least.

My italian friend, Moleskine, has again shared one of his mum's recipes with me. This recipe for salsa verde piccante makes a nice topping for toasted ciabatta, perfect for those summer bbqs and picnics. It uses a lot of parsley but doesn't taste too strongly of it as the anchovies, chilli and bread help even out the flavour.

The recipe makes enough salsa for about 10 crostini (snack-sized pieces of toast), so feel free to double the recipe if you're going to be making it for a party. Make a few up and pop them on a platter along with a bowl for the remainder of the salsa and extra toasted, lightly oiled ciabatta and let your guests help themselves.

Apart from the copious amount of parsley needed for this recipe, all the other ingredients are probably things that you already have in the kitchen (if you like to cook italian). So if you have a few parsley plants going crazy in this warmer weather, harvest a big handful of the younger stalks and try this out.

Salsa verde piccante

Makes enough for about 10 crostini

Ingredients

2 slices of bread, crusts removed (or equivalent of unsliced bread)
3 Tbsp white wine vinegar
4-6 anchovy fillets, rinsed and patted dry
1 soft boiled egg
2/3 cup flat-leafed parsley, finely chopped
1/2 - 1 chilli, finely chopped
6 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, halved lengthwise

Directions

1. Roughly rip up the bread and put it in a small bowl. Sprinkle the white wine vinegar over. Squeeze out the excess vinegar and put the bread in a large mixing bowl
2. Add the anchovies and soft-boiled egg to the bread and mash well with a fork. Mash until the egg is in very small bits
3. Add the parsley, chilli and extra virgin olive oil and mix until the salsa is the consistency of thick porridge. Add more olive oil if required
4. Taste the salsa and add more chilli or anchovy to taste if needed
5. Add the halved garlic and stir it in
6. Cover and put the salsa in the fridge for 30 minutes to allow the flavours to develop. Remove the garlic halves before serving.

Serve with ciabatta that has been sprinkled with olive oil and lightly toasted. Left over salsa can be kept for up to a week in the fridge. Just cover it with a layer of oil and put in a lidded container.

Buon appetito!

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