This is one of my all-time favourite recipes which really says welcome to Spring. You can transform a simple baked white fish or poached chicken with salsa verde; you can drizzle it over new potatoes, mix it through rice or pasta, and drizzle it over peas, tender stem broccoli and asparagus. It adds such a delicious fresh flavour, and aromatic herbs are stuffed full of nutrients too. With garlic and onion and earthy spicy olive oil it is a really simple way of making something plain delicious whilst being super healthy too.

You can use tarragon or coriander instead of basil but parsley is compulsory! You can leave out the anchovies if you don’t eat fish but they do add a delicious salty savoury flavour. You can either use a mortar and pestle to mash it all together or a small herb blender.

1 small shallot, finely chopped
I garlic clove crushed
1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar or lemon juice
1 jar of anchovies (approximately 50g)
A big handful of flat leaf parsley
A big handful of basil (average supermarket pack)
2 tablespoons of salted capers, rinsed
120-150ml extra virgin olive oil

Put the shallots into a bowl with the red wine vinegar or lemon juice.

Drain the anchovies and put them with the capers into a mortar and give them a good pounding with the pestle, mashing them well. Or into a herb blender.

Cut the stalks off the herbs, lay on a board and chop by hand with a good knife or even better, a mezze luna, a brilliant curved rocking knife that is the best thing for chopping herbs.

Drain the shallots of the vinegar or lemon juice but retain it and add the shallots to the herbs and anchovy and caper mix.

Stir well and gradually add the olive oil until you have a consistency you like.

Add the vinegar or lemon juice to taste.

Store in an airtight jar for up to a week.