Vierge Sauce
Quick Recipes French Vegetables Sauces and Salsa
A virgin sauce made from grilled tomatoes with lots of fresh herbs, lemon juice, and coriander. Ideal for fish, but also great with chicken breast or potatoes. Now is the best time to make it, when tomatoes are at their peak. The traditional recipe uses much more oil, but I used the juice released by the grilled tomatoes and just added a little oil. This makes a very light sauce.
Ingredients
2 tomatoes (ripe and sweet; ideally meaty with few seeds; about 500g)
1 large garlic clove
1/2 bunch parsley
1 sprig basil (about 10 large leaves)
1 sprig tarragon
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
1/2 lemon (3 tablespoons juice)
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt, black pepper
Servings: 4
How to prepare vierge sauce
- Cut the tomatoes into thick rounds and brush with oil.
- Heat a grill pan very well and place the tomatoes on the grill. Cook for about 4 minutes on the first side and 2 more minutes on the second side.
- Slice the garlic and place it at the bottom of a bowl. Remove the grilled tomatoes and place them over the garlic. Sprinkle with sea salt. Let cool completely. The tomatoes will release juice at the bottom of the bowl. If there's too much juice, drain about half of it before the next step.
* for more photos of grilled tomatoes see here - Using a fork, mash the tomatoes into a not-too-fine puree. Remove the tomato skins (they come off easily while mashing) and any stem pieces that can't be mashed with a fork.
- Add the finely chopped herbs, coriander, lemon juice, and grind in black pepper. Mix well.
- Pour the oil in a thin stream while stirring the sauce (like making mayonnaise). Adjust the salt to taste.
- The sauce is good immediately, but the flavors blend if it sits for a while at room temperature and the sauce becomes even better. For longer storage, keep it in the refrigerator.
