Chef Thomas
Anchovy Sauce
A proper white sauce sharpened with pounded anchovy, the old Georgian trick for waking up a piece of poached fish or a slice of roast lamb on a Sunday in spring.
Culinary Explorer
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Parsley Sauce
Created by Chef Thomas
A proper English parsley sauce, thick and speckled green, poured over hot ham or poached fish on the kind of evening when dinner doesn't need to be clever, only warm.
Sauces & Condiments
British
Weeknight
Comfort Food
5 min
Active Time
15 min cook•20 min total
Yield4 servings (about 400ml)
This is a sauce for a grey Tuesday. The sort of evening where the light has gone by five and you want something on the table that feels like it belongs on the table. A piece of boiled ham, some plain potatoes, a plate of cabbage, and this poured over the top in a generous slick. Nothing clever. Nothing to explain. Dinner.
Parsley sauce is one of the oldest sauces in the English kitchen and it has survived because it earns its place. A proper béchamel, made slowly, infused with bay and onion and peppercorns, finished with an almost reckless amount of chopped parsley so the whole thing turns speckled green and smells of a garden in spring. The trick, if there is one, is not being shy with the parsley. A timid parsley sauce is a sad thing. You want the herb to be the point, not a garnish.
Parsley is one of the few green things that keeps going through the cold months, and on a winter evening a handful from a windowsill pot or a bunch from the Saturday market can turn a plain supper into something that feels looked after. A recipe is a conversation, not a contract, and this one has been having the same conversation with English kitchens for three hundred years. I wrote it down in the notebook once, next to a pencil sketch of a ham: parsley, milk, butter, Tuesday. That was enough.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
whole milk
Quantity
400ml
bay leaf
Quantity
1
small onion
Quantity
half
peeled, left whole
black peppercorns
Quantity
4 whole
unsalted butter
Quantity
30g
plain flour
Quantity
30g
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
a large handful (about 30g)
finely chopped, stalks and all
lemon juice
Quantity
a squeeze
fine sea salt
Quantity
to taste
white pepper
Quantity
to taste
nutmeg (optional)
Quantity
a grating
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| whole milk | 400ml |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| small onionpeeled, left whole | half |
| black peppercorns | 4 whole |
| unsalted butter | 30g |
| plain flour | 30g |
| flat-leaf parsleyfinely chopped, stalks and all | a large handful (about 30g) |
| lemon juice | a squeeze |
| fine sea salt | to taste |
| white pepper | to taste |
| nutmeg (optional) | a grating |
Equipment Needed
- •Two small saucepans
- •Fine mesh sieve
- •Balloon whisk
- •Wooden spoon
- •Sharp knife and chopping board
Instructions
- 1
Infuse the milk
Pour the milk into a small saucepan. Add the bay leaf, the half onion, and the peppercorns. Bring it to the edge of a simmer, just until you see the first bubbles rising at the rim, then turn the heat off and leave it alone for ten minutes. The kitchen will start to smell faintly of bay and warm dairy. That's the sauce beginning already.
Don't let the milk boil. A proper rolling boil catches at the bottom of the pan and will taint the whole sauce with a scorched note you can't scrub out. - 2
Chop the parsley
While the milk sits, chop the parsley. Properly. Don't be precious about separating the leaves from the stalks, the stalks carry most of the flavour and they chop down to nothing if your knife is sharp. You want it fine but not pulverized. A generous mound of bright, damp green on the board.
- 3
Make the roux
In a separate small saucepan, melt the butter over a gentle heat. When it's foaming, tip in the flour all at once and stir with a wooden spoon. It will come together into a pale, pasty lump. Keep it moving for a minute or two. You're cooking the raw taste out of the flour, not colouring it. It should smell biscuity and faintly like popcorn. Don't let it go beyond pale sand.
- 4
Build the sauce
Strain the infused milk through a sieve straight into the pan with the roux, discarding the bay, onion, and peppercorns. Whisk steadily as you pour. It will seize and look lumpy for a worrying moment, then loosen as you keep whisking. Turn the heat to medium-low and stir constantly with the whisk or a wooden spoon until it thickens to the consistency of double cream, about five minutes. It should coat the back of the spoon and hold a clean line when you draw a finger through it.
If lumps stubbornly refuse to go, push the sauce through a sieve and carry on. No shame in it. A smooth sauce is worth the extra thirty seconds. - 5
Finish with parsley
Take the pan off the heat. Tip in the chopped parsley and stir it through. The sauce will turn from ivory to a proper speckled green, almost emerald in places. Add a squeeze of lemon, a good pinch of salt, a grind of white pepper, and the smallest grating of nutmeg if you fancy it. Taste. Then taste again. It should taste of parsley first, butter second, and milk last. Serve straight away, over hot boiled ham, poached fish, or a plate of floury potatoes.
Chef Tips
- •Use flat-leaf parsley if you can get it, but curly parsley is the traditional choice here and there's no shame in it. The curly sort has a slightly sharper, more peppery note that works well against the richness of ham or fish. Whichever you use, chop it fresh and chop it just before it goes in. Parsley chopped half an hour ahead loses its spark.
- •Don't skip the milk infusion. Five minutes of patience while the bay and onion steep turns ordinary milk into something that already tastes seasoned before you've added a thing. It's the difference between a sauce and a proper sauce.
- •The sauce wants to be loose enough to pour, not stiff enough to stand a spoon in. If it thickens too much as it sits, whisk in a splash more warm milk. If it's too thin, a few more minutes on the heat will bring it back. It's forgiving in both directions.
- •Best made the moment you need it. Parsley sauce dulls and loses its brightness if it sits around. The whole reason it works is that the parsley is still green and alive when it hits the plate.
Advance Preparation
- •The milk can be infused with the bay, onion, and peppercorns up to a day ahead and kept covered in the fridge. Warm it gently before using.
- •The sauce itself doesn't keep well. It's a now-or-never sort of thing. If you must, make the béchamel base without the parsley up to two hours ahead, press a piece of buttered paper directly onto the surface to stop a skin forming, and stir in the parsley only at the last minute over gentle heat.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 100g)
Calories
145 calories
Total Fat
10 g
Saturated Fat
6 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
3 g
Cholesterol
25 mg
Sodium
190 mg
Total Carbohydrates
11 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
4 g
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