Print Recipe

ROSAMUND’S SAUCE GRIBICHE

Our Longhorn beef is so wonderfully succulent, it doesn’t really need a sauce but, if you want a gourmet treat on a summer evening, why not try this easy sauce with barbecued steak. A classic Sauce Gribiche calls for chervil which is difficult to find in a supermarket. It is ridiculously easy to grow – a packet sprinkled on a pot of compost and watered when you remember will be ready to cut in about 3 weeks – but  I think a combination of tarragon, chives and parsley makes a good alternative even if it’s not quite what a grand chef de cuisine might use. Whatever herbs you use, don’t stint on them – it is surprising how much you need to yield the good heaped tablespoonful which the recipe asks for once it has been finely chopped.
Like all recipes which involve making an emulsion, assuming you don’t have strong muscles and all the time in the world, you need to choose the right piece of equipment for the mixing. You can use a hand held electric whisk or the small bowl of a food processor but, if you have a liquidiser with a hole in the lid through which you can dribble the oil, I find that is the best choice. 
Servings: 4 – 6 people

Ingredients

  • 120 ml light olive oil
  • 3 small eggs, hard boiled
  • 1 heaped tbsp smooth Dijon mustard
  • 1 tbsp good quality red wine vinegar
  • 1 tbsp  warm water
  • 1 tbsp  nonpareille capers
  • A bunch of chervil – to yield a well heaped tbsp when finely chopped (failing chervil, the equivalent is a mixture of tarragon and chives and a little extra parsley)
  • A bunch of parsley   to yield a well heaped tbsp when finely chopped
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

  • Put the mustard, vinegar and water in the liquidiser with a good grinding of black pepper and about half a tsp sea salt. Mix very thoroughly (at least 20 seconds). Then, with the machine running, start to add a dribble of oil, stopping the dribbling every now and then but leaving the machine running to make sure the mixture is thoroughly emulsified (just like making mayonnaise). Towards the end, the dribble can be increased to a thin stream. You should end up with an emulsion which is thicker than double cream but a bit thinner than a good mayonnaise. 
  • Shell and chop the hard boiled eggs fairly finely (but do this by hand – a food processor will turn them into a paste). Finely (really finely!) chop the herbs. You can very roughly chop the capers but I prefer to leave them whole. Put the herbs, capers and chopped egg in a bowl and add the vinegar and oil emulsion. Stir well to mix and adjust the seasoning.
    Order Longhorn Beef