Sicilian salmoriglio, the green sauce for meat and fish

Salmoriglio is a traditional Sicilian culinary sauce perfect for seasoning meat or fish dishes: here is the recipe!

Today we offer you a quick and easy recipe that takes us directly to Sicily. Salmoriglio, in fact, is a Sicilian sauce also known by the terms salamarigghiu or sammurigghiu , mainly used to season second courses of grilled meat or fish.

According to tradition, this sauce is prepared differently depending on whether it is used in combination with meat or fish: among the basic ingredients, however, chopped garlic, oil, an acid part and aromatic herbs cannot be missing. It is used not only in Sicily, but also in Calabria with the addition of spicy green chili pepper. Be careful not to over-chop the aromatic herbs to prevent them from oxidising. Here are all the steps of the salmoriglio recipe!

How to make salmoriglio (for fish)

Let's immediately see how to prepare this sauce in combination with fish:

1. First, rinse the parsley , dry it carefully and chop it with a knife.
2. Put the oil in a large bowl, add the filtered lemon juice a little at a time and a spoonful of hot water .
3. Peel the garlic clove and chop it finely after removing the core (or crush it with the appropriate tool).
4. Mix with the help of a whisk or a fork, then add the chopped parsley, pepper, salt and oregano. Pour the sauce thus obtained into a clean glass jar and leave to rest for at least 15 minutes before using it. This way the flavors will have the opportunity to blend together.

If you like, you can also add a little finely chopped fresh spicy chili pepper.

The salmoriglio variant (for meat)

Let's now move on to the version for marinating and seasoning meat (grilled or otherwise):

1. First, put the extra virgin olive oil and the chopped and cored garlic clove in a bowl.
2. If you like, you can replace the lemon with white wine vinegar , or simply by adding a little extra virgin olive oil.
3. Add the hot water and aromatic herbs to taste , you can keep the parsley, or usually chopped rosemary is used, or a mix of rosemary and oregano.
4. Season with salt and pepper and emulsify everything with a fork or a hand whisk.

We leave you a video of the preparation of this recipe which actually needs very little explanation:

Salmoriglio: variations and combinations

Salmoriglio is a sauce similar, in some respects, to citronette . It differs from the latter due to the presence of parsley and garlic, two essential ingredients to give it its characteristic flavour.

The recipe lends itself to several small modifications that make it suitable for the most diverse uses:

• As we recommended previously, to make the recipe even more aromatic, you can add fresh spicy green chili pepper , chopped with a knife as they usually do in Calabria.
• As well as accompanying meat and fish, salmoriglio is excellent with tomato bruschetta , together with marinated anchovies and swordfish carpaccio .
• Then try it for marinating meat (it's excellent with chicken) and then proceed with grilling: even the leanest cuts will benefit from it.
• With its strong flavor it is able to ennoble even simple steamed or grilled vegetables .

storage

This sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for a maximum of 3-4 days in a glass jar. Before placing it in the fridge we recommend covering the sauce completely with oil and not letting too much time pass before consuming it as it risks souring. You can also portion the sauce and leave it to freeze in the freezer and remove as needed (why not put some of it in the molds to make ice cubes?)

Salmoriglio: origin and history

The term seems to derive from the Latin salsamentum used to indicate a solution based on water and salt which served as a preservative. In short, an ancestor of our brine. This technique was used above all by the Spaniards in Andalusia who, however, transformed the basic recipe by enriching it with garlic, vinegar, tomato and stale bread, giving life to the salmorejo .

In the period between the 16th and 18th centuries, the Spanish conquered Sicily, bringing with them customs, habits and recipes, including this particular sauce. The Sicilians didn't particularly like it so they decided to revisit it and replace the vinegar with lemon juice, giving life to salamarigghio . It is therefore not difficult to understand how the current name was arrived at.

Salmoriglio is also typical of another Italian region, Calabria , where it arrived in the same period at the hands of the Spanish rulers.