In Good Taste #69: Preserved Lemon & Coriander Pesto/Zhug/Chermoula/Salsa Verde
An inuathentic-to-anywhere-but-delicious-everywhere dressing or dip; post-supper club thanks; talking cats
Well, hello there! How are you?
Good I hope.
(Not up for the chitchat? Completely get it. Click the email title to go to a web-based version then jump straight to the recipe or Cultural Fun.
First up, thanks to everyone who came to my supper club last night at the Lacy Nook in Walthamstow. We weren’t at capacity which was a shame but those that came seemed to enjoy the meal and said nice things afterwards which gladdened my heart no end.
Thanks also to the team at the Lacy Nook who were super welcoming and made the evening go beautifully, especially Niamh who ran the show and created the welcome cocktail. I gave her a jar of preserved lemon syrup (a by-product from candying peel that was used in the dessert) a couple of weeks back, along with some blitzed dehydrated preserved lemons (tastes kind of like sherbet!). She incorporated the syrup into a gin-based cocktail and mixed the dust with gold sugar to rim the gasses. Gorgeous, no?
Hopefully more events coming in the new year. Make sure you’re subscribed to be the first to hear about them…
Recipe: Coriander & Preserved Lemon Pesto/Zhug/Chermoula/Salsa Verde
I am loath to call anything “pesto” other than the classic basil version. The Oxford Companion to Food notes that although it is “the pride of the Italian province of Liguria… the rage for pesto has spread far beyond its birthplace and manifold have been the variations…”
Manifold indeed. Years ago I wrote a piece trying to pin down a definition of pesto that allowed for variation but retained a consistent throughline. I settled on something that contained a combination of soft herbs, cheese and nuts but wasn’t entirely satisfied.
More recently I wrote an issue of this newsletter with a fermented pesto recipe and, looking back, see I was fretting over the etymology then too.
And yet here we are. This thing here contains no nuts and no cheese so, by my own definition, definitely isn’t pesto but I don’t really know what else to call it. It’s verdant and green, herby and zingy, half way between a Yemeni zhug and a north African chermoula but not quite either of those things. It’s a sort-of-salsa-verde but I feel that fails to imply the chilli bite.
So it needs a name and the idea came after reading a very interesting article on Gastro Obscura about why you never find coriander leaves in Italian recipes so, right from the start, there was a heretical coriander pesto idea floating about in my brain and it just got stuck. It’s just another easy way to use your preserved lemons really. You know I am obsessed with people using their preserved lemons.
Anyway. It’s very easy and very nice. And, like another favourite preserved lemon recipe it’s very good for jazzing up shop-bought hummus.
Ingredients
large bunch coriander (approx 100g)
small bunch parsley (approx 50g)
2 green chillies (or to taste), seeds removed
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons preserved lemon paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
pinch salt
100ml olive oil
Method
Blitz everything to a coarse paste. Put everything in a food process or and blitz until evenly combined but still with a bit of texture.
Taste and adjust the seasoning. It should be fresh and zingy. If the preserved lemons aren’t bringing quite enough acidity on their own add a little squeeze of lemon juice or tiny splash of vinegar. Adjust the salt if necessary.
Notes (If Ifs And Ands Were Pots And Pans…)
You can use the herb stalks too. I tend to roughly chop the herbs, just to help them blend evenly. Some mint, dill or basil would be good in here too.
Zhug recipes often include coriander and cardamon so you could lean in that direction if you fancied. Or leave out the chilli and add paprika instead for more chermoula-like vibes.
I added some chopped cherry toms when I served this over hummus and it was a lovely combination. It would be great with eggs too.
Cultural Fun
I’ve got very little new or diverting for you this week. I loved the most recent episode of my friend Helen Zaltzman’s podcast The Allusionist, which was about a talking cat and totally blew my mind. Not literally talking but undeniably communicating using buttons. But mainly I am half-way through things and reluctant to recommend them until I’m finished and can confirm they weren’t a waste of time. Back next week with a gift guide though.
Bye! See you next week!
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It was a delicious Supper Club last at the Lacy Nook - thanks Clare. Who knew stuffing fresh ravioli with Dauphinoise could be so delicious and comforting on a cold night! Please return for more Supper Clubs next year