Happy Easter! Happy Passover! Whether you're making an Easter leg of lamb, or a Passover brisket (or, for that matter, any roasted vegetable, chicken or fish recipe) this Tart Lemon Singer Vinegar-brightened herby green sauce will make your dishes sing. This versatile condiment is a great one to have in your back pocket.
We love using the Tart Lemon Singer Vinegar because it has a gentle acidity that makes it ideal for mixing into sauces (or for adding into sparkling water for a refreshing, shrub-like non-alcoholic drink). Created in small batches with Meyer lemons sourced from New Orleans, and Indian Hibiscus sourced from Diaspora Co. The flavor profile is bright and energetic with a hint of the inside of a cigar box, slightly smokey and earthy — great with sweet or savory dishes alike.
To make any green sauce, a very sharp knife is essential and our Kitchen Knife is the perfect blade for the job.
'Tart Lemon Singer' Herby Green Sauce Drizzle
Ingredients:
10 sprigs of parsley, leaves only
10 sprigs of cilantro, leaves and stems
5 sprigs of mint, leaves only
10 chives
3 firm cloves of garlic
8 kumquats or limequats or one small orange or mandarin (if using an orange or mandarin, use a sharp knife to cut the skin away from the pith and then dice the peel coarsely)
1 lemon (preferably Meyer, but any lemon variety will do), zest and juice
1 small orange, juice only
1/2 tablespoon of Marash Pepper
Very good Extra Virgin olive oil
Approx 3 tablespoons of Tart Lemon Singer Vinegar (or to taste) — you can use rice vinegar as a substitute but you'll lose some of the complexity of flavor
Fine sea salt
Method:
Using a sharp knife, mince the garlic cloves and add to a medium sized bowl. Add the vinegar, a big pinch of salt and the zest of a lemon along with a squeeze of its juice. Let it sit to macerate.
Wash and dry the herbs and pluck the leaves from the stems (keep the cilantro stems and chop them too). Chop all the herbs except for the chives to a medium-fine size and add them to the bowl. Chop the chives separately by lining them up lengthwise and cutting them into thin tubes. Add them to the bowl and mix thoroughly.
Rinse the kumquats and de-stem them if necessary, and, using a very sharp knife, halve and slice them very thinly. Remove any seeds and add them to the bowl, along with a glug of olive oil. If ever there were a time to use a very high quality olive oil, now is it — a delicious oil is essential for any sauce you use to dress a dish right before serving.
Add the Marash pepper and stir to combine. It should be loose but not too liquid (if using orange or mandarin peel instead of kumquats, add it here). Taste and adjust the acid, oil or salt to taste. It should be bright and tangy, but not too sour. If you need a little sweetness, add a squeeze or two of orange juice. If it really feels too astringent, add a tiny bit of neutral, liquid honey. You do, however, want to err on the brighter, acidic side to complement the rounder, warmer flavors of meats or roasted vegetables.
