This is so simple, yet it is one of my most used recipes this time of year, when both parsley and lemons are in glut and dinner is often a long slow-cooked soup or stew that could do with some brightening up.
It’s so simple. Just parsley (Italian flat leaf by preference, but any kind will do), lemon zest, and garlic, smashed together with a mortar and pestle. (You can use a blender if you have to, but it’s much better hand smashed). Add a bit of salt, enough olive oil to moisten it, smash it to your preferred consistency.
Amazing what a difference it makes. Tonight’s dinner is a chicken and veg soup with Madagascar beans, chicken stock that has been in the freezer since the last rooster reached adolescence, root vegetables, and winter greens like kale. It could be stodgy, but with gremolata on the table for people to spoon on top it’s fresh and bright and clean flavoured.
