Marjoram Sauce with Capers & Green Olives Recipe
Pungent, herby, and assertive, this is an incredibly versatile sauce. From Deborah Madison's new book, Vegetable Literacy, it's made with pounded capers, walnuts, green olives, and a load of herbs - the perfect slather for everything from sandwiches and pasta to egg salad and vegetables.
I spend time with a lot of cookbooks. Some I like for the author's voice, or their cooking palette. Others have beautiful photography or styling. Some of my favorites capture a sense of place and time. There are a lot of good books being produced right now, and a rich range of perspectives reflected. It's great. That said, there aren't many books that completely challenge me to think about my own cooking from an unexpected angle. Deborah Madison's forthcoming book Vegetable Literacy, is an exception. I spent a stretch of time with it before it went to the printer, and I suspect it will be one of the most influential cookbooks published this year.
Deborah's new book explores the relationships between vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers within the same botanical families. So, for example, if you understand that buckwheat, rhubarb, and sorrel are all part of the Knotweed family, it might impact how you consider use them. Ingredients I may regularly use in combination, purely on instinct, might have a natural affinity for each other through their botanical relationship. Understanding these relationships directly impacts how you think about using these ingredients. And it's a lot of fun to think about.
After spending some time with Vegetable Literacy, I wrote an endorsement for the back cover, doing my best to sum up what an incredible book it is. It went like this..."There are few people equipped with the curiosity, skill, and eye for observation required to construct a volume of this size and scope - and Deborah does it masterfully. Vegetable Literacy will shift the way both home and professional cooks think about the relationship between ingredients, and vegetables in particular. Using this book has felt like a missing puzzle piece snapping into place - inspiring, intimate, informative, and beautifully illustrated."
More than anything, I wanted to give you the heads up about the book, it will be out in the coming weeks, and I suspect/hope many of you will find it as interesting as I have. Recipes? This thick marjoram sauce recipe immediately popped off the pages at me (and has become a fast favorite)...It's great for slathering, spreading, and mixing in. Pungent, herby, and assertive, it's made with pounded capers, walnuts, green olives, and a load of herbs - my photos don't do it justice. Give it a try - really. You must. It's great with pasta, worked into egg or potato salad, spread on bruschetta or sandwiches, or tossed with roasted or sauteed vegetables. I even topped a frittata with it - A+.
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Marjoram Sauce with Capers & Green Olives
HS note: I used Castelvetrano olives. Look for any good, not canned, green olives - Whole Foods typically has a good olive selection near the salad bar. Or an Italian deli might be another option.
1 thick slice country bread, crust removed
2 tablespoons aged red vine vinegar
1 clove garlic, coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1/3 cup / 1/4 oz / 8 g marjoram leaves
3 tablespoons capers, rinsed
1/2 cups / 1 1/2 oz / 45 g pine nuts or walnuts
1 cup / 1 1/4 oz / 35 g finely chopped parsley
10 pitted green olives
1/2 cup / 120 ml olive oil
Place the bread on a plate and sprinkle the vinegar over it. Pound the garlic with the salt in a mortar until smooth, then, one at a time, work in the marjoram, capers, nuts, parsley, and olives. Pound until the mixture has the texture of a coarse puree. Add the bread, then the olive oil and work all the ingredients together until the sauce comes together. Season with pepper, then taste for vinegar and salt, adding the smallest bit more if needed. If you like a looser sauce, thin with a bit more oil. It will keep refrigerated for a few days.
Makes about 1 cup.
Adapted from Vegetable Literacy by Deborah Madison. To be published March 12, 2013.
Prep time: 10 minutes
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Comments
Can you leave out the bread? we are gluten free.
HS: Hi Brenda - It will have a different texture, and you'll need to balance out the other ingredients a bit differently, but yes :)./i>
This book looks absolutely magnificent. And this post has certainly done it justice.
Lucky! I've been daydreaming about the day this book comes out for the last month. I'm glad I work in a bookstore- I'll get my copy as soon as it comes in!
I'm always looking for new, interesting sauces to try. This sounds heavenly, and I'll have to check out that book as well!
Looks so good and seems so versatile!
Wonderful recipe!
I am so excited about this cookbook. I can't wait to get my hands on it! Thanks for the sneak peek!
Miriam: I'm learning so much cooking and ingredient vocabulary with your posts! The combination of this herbs seems perfect to dress a salad :)
Hm, wonderful...haven't used marjoram for a while. I think I will make this sauce with almonds instead of walnuts or pecans.
Marjoram is so sparsely used. Love the addition in this recipe :)
What a beautiful book! I'm definitely going to put it on the wishlist. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. Very interesting sauce with the bread worked into the herbs. I've never had a sauce/spread recipe like that, but I'm definitely going to try!
I love the title of the book and if you say that it challenges you to examine your own cooking and think more deeply about things, then I can't wait to get my hands on it!
What is the best use for this sauce? Spread in sandwiches? With meat?
I've not heard about this book, it sounds interesting, so thanks for that. The sauce looks good!
Love this sauce! Bright and brilliant. Thank you for sharing.
So verdant! I imagine it will work with pasta, too. Thanks for the heads up about the book, Heidy.
wow..this is so my kind of sauce, fresh ingredients, great aromas soulful taste. With my overflowing pot of marjoram I keep turning it into sauces and pestos. This will be a new addition. Vegetable Literacy looks like a book that I would cherish. Looking forward to it.
How do you use this sauce? What should you eat it with?
I'm such a fan of Deborah Madison, and her new book looks so interesting! Also, I am always on the lookout for another vibrant sauce for "slathering, spreading, and mixing in." Thanks for sharing the Marjoram Sauce!
looks great! Heidi do you use the small capers or the bigger ones?
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