Salsa Verde or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Anchovies

Tamar inspires again. "Once you have it, you'll start spooning it on everything in sight," she says of her salsa verde, introduced in the first chapter as (if memory serves) the first bona fide recipe in An Everlasting Meal. I initially read the ingredient list down to "1 anchovy fillet" and moved on: I've never had mom's taste for those oily little suckers. But several chapters later, I've learned to trust Tamar, so I went back to p. 15 and gave salsa verde a shot.

As it turns out, the shallot, garlic, and parsley give a pleasant (if predictable) boost to beef and chicken, but the capers and anchovies add a whisper of something strange and extraordinary. (And I think that's the most you'd want from a salsa.) Plus it's dead easy to make and costs nothing. So, welcome, salsa verde, to the permanent rotation!

1 shallot, finely chopped and soaked for 10-15 minutes in red or white wine vinegar
1 bunch parsley, roughly chopped
1 garlic glove, minced and smashed into paste-like consistency
1 tsp. capers, finely chopped
1 anchovy fillet, finely chopped
~1/3 cup olive oil (more or less depending on the volume of your parsley bunch)

Seen here atop grilled sirloin steaks, themselves resting on a bed of sautéed purple cabbage and onions