How do I use up a glut of herbs in a sauce?

Soft herbs go from perfect to slimy in about four days, and a garden or a supermarket bunch always produces more than a recipe needs. All of these sauces exist because of that problem. They use a whole bunch at a time, they take ten minutes, and every one of them will improve a plain piece of meat, fish or roast vegetables.

What you'll need

• A large bunch of soft herbs
• Olive oil
• Vinegar or lemon
• Garlic
• Capers or anchovies (optional)

Step by step

1. Learn the pattern rather than the recipes.Herbs for freshness, fat to carry it, acid to cut, salt to make it register, and something sharp or savoury for identity — capers, anchovy, mustard, chilli, shallot. Change the last element and you have a different sauce.
2. Salsa verde: parsley, capers, anchovy, mustard, oil.A large bunch of parsley plus mint or basil, a tablespoon of capers, three anchovy fillets, a teaspoon of Dijon, a small clove of garlic, red wine vinegar and enough olive oil to loosen. Chop by hand for texture. With lamb, steak, poached fish and boiled potatoes.
3. Chimichurri: parsley, oregano, garlic, chilli, red wine vinegar.A bunch of flat parsley, a tablespoon of dried oregano, two cloves of garlic, a red chilli or chilli flakes, three tablespoons of red wine vinegar and 100ml of olive oil. Rest it half an hour. With grilled beef, chicken and roast vegetables.
4. Gremolata: parsley, lemon zest, garlic.Equal handfuls of finely chopped parsley, the zest of a lemon and one clove of garlic minced very fine. No oil at all. Scattered over osso buco, a braise, a stew or roast vegetables at the table, where it does what a squeeze of lemon does but with more presence.
5. Herb oil: blanched herbs blended with oil and strained.Blanch the herbs for ten seconds, refresh in iced water, squeeze dry, blend with neutral oil, and strain through muslin. Brilliant green, keeps a week in the fridge, and a spoonful transforms a soup or a plate of fish.
6. Herb butter: chopped herbs beaten into soft butter.Parsley, tarragon, chives or a mixture, with lemon zest, garlic and salt. Roll in cling film, chill, and slice off coins. Freezes for months and melts over steak, fish, corn or vegetables.
7. Chop by hand where texture matters.Salsa verde and gremolata are better chopped. A blender bruises the herbs, turns them dark and makes an emulsion rather than a sauce. Chimichurri and herb oil tolerate the machine.

Tips

• Soft herbs — parsley, coriander, basil, mint, dill, tarragon, chervil — are for these sauces. Woody herbs such as rosemary, thyme and sage are too strong raw and belong in a butter or an oil instead.
• Include the tender stalks of parsley and coriander. They have more flavour than the leaves and only the thick lower stems need discarding.
• Freeze herb butter and herb oil rather than trying to keep them. Both freeze without any loss.
• Chopped herbs frozen in an ice-cube tray with a little oil or water keep for months and go straight into a pan. Not for a raw sauce, but excellent for cooking.
• These sauces are all better after half an hour and most are better the next day, except the ones with a lot of basil, which darken.
• Salt draws water out of herbs, so salt the sauce shortly before serving rather than hours ahead.

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